The Professor Oak League: Ben and Amy's Adventure
by JazzyNote14
Summary: A new League, a new set of rules. These challenges await new trainers and friends Ben and Amy. A challenging League invented by Professor Oak himself, this story follows two trainers 50 years after Ash Ketchum's adventures. In progress! Thanks for reading. I know there's a few minor mistakes, but I just need to keep writing, you know? Please read and review, if you want to.
1. A New Adventure Begins?

Amy opened her eyes to sunlit spilling brightly all over her bedroom.

"Today..." she thought wistfully, "I leave on my epic Pokemon journey." Then she rolled over to look at her alarm clock in the shape of a Togepi that also displayed the date, then she marveled at her stupidity.

"DARN IT! I leave tomorrow... this sucks," she yelled at herself, then rolling back over to face her window. The family pet, Munchy the Raticate was off scaring Flying-type Pokemon again, even though he was half-blind. Sometimes he would smother Amy by falling asleep on her face.

He was Amy's Mom's Pokemon on her journey long ago.

Thinking about this made Amy bored.

"I want to leave now," she internally whined to herself.

"Maybe I should just go back to sleep so a few hours will go by..." she thought.

Then an all-mighty growl erupted from her stomach and made her have second thoughts.

"Although...breakfast may not be a bad idea..."

Amy put on one of her typical outfits, her Pokemon League hoodie, jeans, black sneakers, and a special Lugia necklace her mom had given her as a birthday present once. Not a very interesting outfit, but it described her perfectly.

When she went downstairs, Amy was surprised to find that her mom had already prepared a breakfast of waffles and fruit, and that she and her mom were not dining alone.

Her best friend since childhood, Ben was seated at the table, along with his caretakers, his grandparents, Ash and Misty.

Yes, you heard right.

After Ash finished his travels, which took much longer than he anticipated, he decided he finally wanted to settle down in life. He once came across an old childhood friend, Misty and had forgotten how beautiful she was. They got to know each other again, and he proposed a few months later.

Years after that, they had a daughter, who eventually went on to have Ben, who tragically lost his parents in an accident and was placed under Ash and Misty's care at a very young age.

They were very good grandparents, never short of stories and Pokemon advice.

Amy appeared in the kitchen, and looked around at everyone. It was only then that she was getting doubts. She had tirelessly prepared for years, doing the research, and getting extra years of education so to have more knowledge, which is why she decided to leave at 14.

Amy looked at Ben, who was the only person she wasn't going to leave behind. He was going with her. That had always been the plan, and it was going to stay that way.

He was a spitting image of his grandfather, except for freckles replacing those weird "z" marks, glasses, and much more groomed hair.

They all looked at her, and moments later, Amy ran into her mom's arms and started sobbing. She did, too.

"I don't know if I can go, Mom," she cried into her mom's apron.

"Don't be silly, why wouldn't you go?" she cried back.

Ash and Misty started sniffling, too, as they had watched Amy grow up. Ash turned to ruffle Ben's hair and wink at him for some unknown reason. Misty rolled her eyes.

"Okay," Amy's mom said, wiping her eyes with her hand, "Who's hungry? Amy, take a seat..."

Amy wiped her eyes, too, high-fived her best friend, and waited for her mom to put waffles on her plate. She hadn't even left yet, and she was missing people already.


	2. Ben and Amy

After breakfast, Ben and Amy were sitting on lawn chairs in his yard. Only two hours had passed since breakfast and they were bored. Amy resulted to clicking her tongue impatiently.

"Honestly," Ben scolded, "Could you be any louder?"

"I could," she considered, "But I'm so _bored_… there's nothing to _do_…" Ben shook his head and started dragging her arm so she was standing up. Amy hesitantly decided to follow. She was that desperate to find something to do.

"Where are we going?" she asked sleepily, because she would've liked to sleep in a little later. "To visit Professor Gary… he always has something to do," Ben explained.

Professor Gary was obviously Professor Oak's grandson. He grew kinder in his old age and watched Ben and Amy grow up from infancy. After his grandfather sadly passed away, he took charge of the Pokemon lab, and it was the playground of Ben and Amy ever since.

"I'm such an idiot. Why didn't I think of that?" Amy grumbled to herself.

"You're such a dunderhead when you don't get enough sleep, you know that?" Ben teased playfully, cuffing her on the arm.

"I would hit you back but I'm so _bored_," Amy whined to annoy him.

"Do you ever shut up?" Ben whined back.

The two kept talking back and forth as they passed through the beautiful scenery of Pallet Town, which was bursting with flora and fauna in the summer. Ben and Amy were used to the walk over to the Pokemon Lab, but anyone who hadn't been there before would be awestruck.

The friends walked by a group of Skiddo trying to eat a last Oran Berry clinging to a bush. They were angry because they didn't like sharing. Ben walked over and took it for himself, much to the Skiddo's disappointment. Ben merely pointed to another full bush a few feet away and the Skiddo went running.

Ben split the berry in half and gave part of it to Amy, who stuck out her tongue.

"Allergies, remember? My tongue would swell up to two times its size and it wouldn't be pretty," Amy explained.

"Huh, you've _neve_r mentioned it before," Ben said sarcastically, putting the whole berry in his mouth. "Delicious."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't rub it in…"

The two made it to the Lab, but didn't go in yet. So many memories came flooding back. Being toddlers, taking their first school picture in front of the Lab, petting a wild Pokemon for the first time, having multiple birthday parties in the back yard… too many to count.

"After tomorrow… it's not going to be the same coming back here… well, for a really long time, at least…" Amy sniffled.

"It's weird, I know. It's not going to be like normal when we get in a fight and we run to Professor Gary and he let's us pet Fluffy and everything's fine," Ben sniffled back.

"That stupid Skitty… has solved so many problems, huh?" Amy said nostalgically.

"Well, bestie," Ben said happily, "Let's go in for the last time as not Pokemon trainers, shall we?" Amy nodded, they linked arms, and set off towards their childhood playground.


	3. Childhood Memories

Amy and Ben nearly skipped up the rickety wooden steps of the Pokemon Lab and rang the doorbell. Like usual, his pet Skitty, Fluffy came bounding as loud as possible to the door, very excited to see the children.

"Calm down, you hooligan," the Professor chuckled to himself as he peeked out the window curiously, smiling upon seeing Ben and Amy.

"Why if it isn't my two favorite soon-to-be Pokemon trainers! Ben, Amy, please come in and take a seat, I've just made some Pecha berry tea, you should try it with this new brand of cookies I bought the other day, really good…" the Professor went on, placing Fluffy unceremoniously on the ground.

"You always know how to entertain us, Professor," Ben laughed, taking a teacup gently in his hands. It was the one with the Bulbasaur on it that Ben and Amy used to fight over. Amy was only interested in the cookies and took a few with a napkin.

"Oh, Amy, my dear, will you ever develop the proper taste buds for some refreshing Pecha berry tea? I know it has an odd tang to it, but if you would just give it a try…" the Professor trailed, dunking a cookie into the tea, "The two of you haven't even sat down yet, please… I don't like feeling short."

"I'm allergic to Oran berries, Professor. What if I'm allergic to others, too? I don't want to risk it. I'm okay with cookies for now, if you don't mind," she mumbled for the millionth time. To any other person in the world, it would be disrespectful to talk to an old man like that, but Gary didn't mind at all.

Ben and Amy sank into a comfortable couch and listened to the quiet tick of the grandfather clock and the Bird-type Pokemon singing their names… and Fluffy's rumble of purring, until Ben broke the silence.

"So...err, Professor, how many are coming from out of town to get a Pokemon tomorrow? Since you have so many, it can't just be the other kids from school, can it?" Ben asked, taking a sip of tea.

"I don't know if all the starters will even be taken, Ben, I don't know. It's amazing. When I started my Pokemon journey at the same time as your grandfather, Ben, there were only three! Well, four if you count the occasional Pikachu my grandfather had on stock… but… eighteen is a bit overwhelming to give out. No professors came to take any of the others' jobs so it's just me…" the Professor trailed again, looking a little sleepy.

"Only three… Amy murmured, eating another cookie in one bite, "Weird to think about, huh? Makes you glad you have more of a decision these days."

"I don't know, Amy," Ben added, "I would've liked the limited choice, it would make it feel important and you'd get a 'you snooze you lose' type feeling when you don't get the one you want."

"In what universe is that a good feeling?" Amy asked, confused. Ben shrugged.

"Oh, I should've asked you this a long time ago, darn my memory…" Professor Gary interrupted suddenly, snapping at Fluffy who immediately came running to sit on his lap.

"Were the two of you interested in joining the Professor Oak League that he invented a few years before he passed away. Out of all the trainers I forget to tell you two… confound it!" the Professor cursed to himself.

Ben and Amy looked at each other. They hadn't planned on doing anything specific on their journey, just explore and see what the world had to offer, maybe enter battle a gym leader here and there, but not their specific goal, necessarily.

"What are the rules?" Amy asked simply.

"Rules, rules, rules… I'll need to go get the handbook. I didn't invent it, unfortunately. I would've liked to come up with something that brilliant…" Professor Gary said, disappearing into the other room, disturbing Fluffy's peacefulness.

He shuffled through papers for a solid five minutes before shouting, "Who on Earth put this pamphlet in my badge display case?"

"Would we do something like that, Professor?" Ben hollered back.

"Wasn't talking to you," the Professor snapped stubbornly.

He situated himself back in his rocking chair and put on a pair of reading glasses and flipped a few pages. He mumbled inaudible words to himself then began reading out loud.

_Here is a list of the Professor Oak League rules that each trainer must follow if she or he decides to join:_

_Each trainer must only catch six Pokemon, one from each of the six regions as to promote a feeling of friendliness among a team._

_Following with the above rule, each of the six Pokemon must have a nickname as to promote friendliness among a team._

_The training period lasts close to a year and six months and the contest lasts for two weeks. You may train in whatever way you like. Gyms will be set up across all regions. It is encouraged you visit them, but it is not required._

_The team you put together does not have to be fully evolved to compete, but each Pokemon must at least be above a Level 50._

_Following with the first two rules, each team consisting of one trainer and six Pokemon must have a team name._

_Only trainers receiving starter Pokemon may enter the League._

_These rules are to be followed closely. If any are broken, you are disqualified from the competition... _

"Yeah, so that's the basic gist of it. It's both simple and challenging at the same time. I thought it would suit the two of you because you've always been ambitious children. What do you think?"

Ben and Amy looked at each other. I was very last minute and sounded like a lot of work. But also… fun in a way. They sort of nodded at each other and signed up for the League that prior to a minute ago, they didn't know about.


	4. A New Challenge

"Well this is out of nowhere," Amy said suddenly as Professor Gary started up a program on his computer to get her and Ben signed up for the League.

"Life should be unexpected, that's what Grandma Misty said," Ben quoted with a smile.

"I never thought those two would end up together…" Professor Gary mumbled quietly, typing information into the computer.

"Now, I always forget, what are your addresses?"

"Mine is 12 Xanadu Road, and his is 14 Xanadu Road," Amy explained.

"Why can I never remember that? I know you've told me half a million times. Argh… this memory of mine! How old are you? Ben… you're a year younger, am I correct?" the Professor asked angrily.

"Yes, that's right. She's 14, I'm 13," Ben replied politely, placing his hands in his lap.

"Alright… first names, guardians, yadda yadda yadda... aaand… oh, your starter Pokemon. You can't get that information until tomorrow, so we'll hold off on that," Professor Gary sighed.

"I'm excited for you kids, but… I'm also dreading you leaving," he sniffled, wiping his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Professor…" Amy said sadly, placing a hand on his shoulder, "We're gonna miss you so much, but we'll call often… at every Pokemon Center… Oh, great now I'm crying!"

Ben stood back, choking up. Too many memories were coming back, things he didn't think he could remember, or ever remembered in the first place. The thought spun his head and made him feel sick with nostalgia and he had to sit down.

Professor Gary got a hold of himself and stood up suddenly.

"You know what? I want to entrust my favorite two trainers-to-be with the first pick of starter Pokemon. I'm in charge around here, I can bend the rules if I want, follow me!" the Professor decided assertively.

Ben and Amy were stunned. Was that allowed? Were they going to be disqualified before they could begin? That would suck. Carefully, regretting and loving each step, the two followed behind their friend the Professor who had made a random decision.

"P-P-Professor, I-I don't know what to say," Amy stuttered as they walked into one of the many scientific rooms. Various machines sat in the middle of the room, hosting Pokeballs with different symbols and words written on them. A screen sat next to the machine displaying information on each Pokemon.

Professor Gary put on a lab coat over his normal clothes.

"Well, go ahead. Pick someone out, I can't stop you… ladies first," he said politely, gesturing to the machines. Amy shook her head.

"No, Ben, buddy, I think for once you should go first. You know my decision skills need to be… thought about before put in use," Amy said, smiling at her friend. Ben nodded.

"Okay. Simple, choosing a partner that I'll have for a majority of my life and I can't choose a different one… simple, like algebra…" he muttered.

Ben circled the room impatiently, only stopping to scroll through information on different Pokemon, sometimes saying, "Huh" or "Wow" or "Stop staring at me" to Amy and Professor Gary.

After an excruciatingly long ten minutes, Ben tentatively pointed and said, "I'll go with this Totodile, if that's okay." Professor Gary smiled and pressed a button on the machine and a Pokeball with a wave sign and "Johto" written on it.

"I'd like to take… him outside to meet him after Amy chooses hers," Ben explained as he held the sphere in his hand carefully, like he was holding a baby or something fragile.

Amy gulped and looked around at the room. There were six different machines, each holding three different Pokemon.

Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos. They were all perfect. One was missing, one Amy wasn't particularly interested in. The rest were fair game. The hard decision was making her paranoid beyond belief.

She ended up at the Sinnoh machine. With a good look at each of them, she decided it would be one of them, for some reason. Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup. They were all equally adorable and awesome.

Amy ruled Piplup out, because she didn't want to have a water type just like Ben… yet. Grass might be convenient… but fire was like power…

"Okay, okay, OKAY! I'm going to make a spur-of-the-moment decision here… Chimchar!" Amy shouted dramatically, throwing her hands up in the air, and quickly putting them back at her sides sheepishly.

"As you wish," Professor Gary answered, pressing a button, producing a Pokeball from the machine. Amy held it in her hand and marvelled at how something alive could thrive and breathe in such a tiny space.

"Shall we go outside to meet your new friends?" Professor Gary asked with a smile, opening a backdoor to a spread-out field of greens and golds.

Ben and I strolled out the door without a word.

The Professor gasped.

"Oh! How could I forget these?" he asked, pulling two mechanisms that looked simply like flat, rectangular disks, nothing special.

"Your Pokedexes!" he said happily, giving us each one. Amy held hers and it unexpectedly flashed a bright light in her face.

"What the…" she started to say as the machine started talking to her.

"**Hello, Amy. My name is Dex-2. I am here for your Pokemon information convenience."**

Ben's did something similar, but it said Dex-1 instead.

With that out of the way, Ben and Amy decided to let their new friends out. It was a perfect day for meeting new friends, the sun was shining, breezy, leaves rustling.

At the same time, Ben and Amy threw the Pokeballs in the air, and watched them land, each letting out a red glow, which materialized into a Totodile and Chimchar.

After fourteen and thirteen years of waiting, Ben and Amy had finally met their Pokemon partners.


	5. An Epic Battle

Amy didn't know where to begin when you got a new Pokemon. Do you pet it? Does it like you at first? Will it kill you? Scenarios ran through her head madly as she looked down at the Chimchar casually staring at the clouds drifting through the sky.

Ben, on the other hand, decided to not be shy. He knelt next to his Totodile and placed a hand on its head carefully, minding the sharp teeth. The Pokemon didn't really do anything but accepted the rubbing on its head, muttering, "...dile…" to itself.

The Chimchar backed itself so it was leaning against Amy's leg and must've forgotten that he had a flame for a tail. It caught on her ankle and she darted away quickly.

"Ow ow… that actually really burned!" Amy shouted, rubbing her leg sorely.

"Chim…" the Pokemon sniggered quietly, then broke into what only could be laughter. He rolled around on the grass, somehow making his tail disappear inside his body.

"Oh, you think you're funny, do you?" Amy teased mischievously.

She walked over to where the Pokemon was rolling and started tickling it so it was really laughing. They were having a great time until a pinecone was thrown over the two, leaving them playfully angry.

They turned around in mock anger, only to see a giggling Totodile and Ben, looking very pleased with themselves. Amy and the Chimchar smirked at each other and seemed to nod.

"Okay, Ben. It's _on_. Care for a Pokemon battle?" Amy asked casually, like she had done it millions of times before.

"After all the information they drilled into our heads at school, it would be wonderful to actually battle… sure," Ben considered.

From behind her, Professor Gary tugged on her sleeve.

"Seriously, battling after knowing your Pokemon for five minutes… tsk tsk… well, that's not what I wanted to tell you. Before you battle, you need to give your Pokemon nicknames, rules you know."

Ben rolled his eyes.

"So now you decide to follow the rules, Professor?" he teased.

"Nobody's perfect," he huffed. He took Amy's Pokedex.

"Now press this button," he explained, "to type in a nickname for your Pokemon. No vulgar names, or having the same nickname as anybody else. The machine will tell you. Other than that… no rules… be creative."

Amy and Ben sat on the grass. If it was anything they were bad at, it was deciding on a name right away. For all stories they had to write in school, they would take hours to think of the perfect name for the main character, or her pet Croagunk or something like that. (Why anyone would want a pet Croagunk is beyond me, but none of my business…)

Amy kept turning fire-related names around in her head but they were either too weird or too common. When she thought she had come up with one, it was the name of a different fire-type Pokemon.

Ben's naming process wasn't going any better. Totodile didn't have much of a developed personality yet, and it was hard to go off of that.

It seemed like hours when the two friends shouted simultaneously, "I'VE GOT IT!", and started furiously typing letters into their Pokedexes.

They turned to face each other and began introducing their Pokemon to each other.

"Hello, _Amy_. This is my Totodile, Cascade," Ben taunted coolly, gesturing to his Totodile, trying to look menacing, but it came off as crazy.

Amy looked him over smugly, and copied his words.

"Hello, _Ben_. This is my Chimchar, Toasty," she taunted back.

Professor Gary smiled and shook his head at them, then walked so he was in the middle of them. He pulled a flag out of his pocket.

"Okay. Are you two ready for your first battle? You can look at your Pokedexes to see what moves your Level 5 Pokemon have… now when I wave this flag, you can begin.

Ben and Amy frantically looked at their Pokedexes, then awaited the countdown.

"Okay… 3… 2… 1… GO!"

Amy was about to speak, but Ben was too fast.

"Cascade, Scratch!" Ben yelled, as the Pokemon awkwardly ambled over to Toasty to swipe him across the ears.

"Err… Scratch!"Amy echoed.

Toasty was close enough to Cascade to leave a formidable scratch on his stomach, but not too formidable.

It was then that Amy realized that she and Ben both had Pokemon with the exact same moves, Leer and Scratch. They'd be at it all day if someone were to win. Cascade didn't even have an advantage because it didn't know water-type moves…

The battle went on for what seemed like an eternity, with both sides Leering and Scratching at each other like little kids on a playground.

At one point, the two Pokemon ended up staring at each other for five minutes, attempting to get one or the other to break down.

Ben and Amy ended up sitting criss-cross on the ground, staring bored and amused at Cascade and Toasty battling.

"Think we should maybe call it off? I'm getting sort of hungry…" Ben yawned, looking at his watch. Amy nodded sleepily.

"Toasty, get over here," she called feebly, letting him crawl onto her back and put his arms around her neck like a little kid getting a piggy-back ride.

Ben casually took out his Pokedex, and stared wide-eyed at the screen.

"Cascade… is a girl?" he blurted, staring at his Pokemon in wonder.

"Problem?" Professor Gary snickered, "Come on. You two need to go home. Do you realize how long you've been here? You need food and sleep for the big day tomorrow…"


	6. One Last Dinner

When Ben and Amy returned to their neighborhood with their new Pokemon, Ash, Misty, and Amy's mom, Debby were very surprised. Professor Gary tagged along, too, to visit with his old friend, Ash.

"Professor Gary," Debby scolded, "Are they really supposed to have their Pokemon now? Shame on you…" Toasty was irresistibly adorable, so she bent down to pet him anyway and forgot what she was talking about.

"You know I always play favorites! I let you get that darned Squirtle you were mooning over just because you wouldn't shut up about it! And now your daughter has a Chimchar, because she wanted one, must run in the family…" the Professor lectured.

"Well, anyway," Misty suddenly interrupted, "We're having a small dinner party to honor our new Pokemon trainers Ben and Amy at our house around seven, and you're invited, Professor."

"My old rival!" Ash roared happily, patting him on the back, "Imagine! Gary Oak at our dinner table, if I knew that would happen fifty years ago, I would've laughed…"

"Same to you, Ashy-boy," Gary said smugly.

Ben and Amy weren't listening to the adults talk, but proceeded to get to know their Pokemon better. Toasty was mischievous and jumpy, a little shy, but seemed to like Amy okay, while Cascade was somewhat snooty and a lone Pokemon, but obviously a hard worker. Both had a lot of potential, they decided.

"My mom and your grandma are going to make us a big dinner tonight… but that's not for… two hours…" Amy mumbled, scratching Toasty's ear.

"That's good. You know what? I've only spent about an hour with Cascade, yet now I'm trying to picture life without her and it's… weird, you know? I guess having a Pokemon really does change you as a person," Ben replied.

They both turned to look at the adults, still talking.

"Well, I better head back to the lab and get some stuff done, spring cleaning, my couch is covered with Skitty hair and it never goes away. But, I'll be sure to come back for that dinner party. I wouldn't miss it for the world," the Professor said with a wink.

"I know how you feel. Munchy is blind as a Zubat and doesn't even know where he is anymore. So he sleeps on my favorite pillow and gets hair everywhere," Debby sympathized.

"Same with our new Lillipup, Rufus…" Misty began as Professor Gary slunk stealthily away to avoid small talk.

"Oh! I forgot you got a new pet last week, how is he?" Debby asked.

"Just fine, just fine, keeps Tackling everything, though…" Ash answered.

Amy laughed from a good distance away at the whole thing.

"The Professor has never been a social Butterfree, has he?" Amy giggled.

"Nope, just like us. I'd rather hang out with you, your mom, the Professor, and my grandparents instead of any of the other people from school," Ben shuddered when he said 'school.'

"Oh, but what about _Tessie_," Amy said sarcastically.

Tessie was the meanest girl at school and always liked to make fun of them, mostly about them being quote on quote, "boyfriend and girlfriend." While not the meanest thing in the world it did get on their nerves just enough to be scared of her. She also tried to put an Oran berry in Amy's milkshake once.

"Ewww, don't even joke about that," Ben groaned.

"You know, she's going to be journeying at the same time as us, so we're going to come across her at some point or another," Amy pointed out.

"And when I do," Ben replied, "I'm going to kick her sorry butt and make sure she never bothers us again and pays our lunch fees for a year… oh, wait… we're not going back to school for a really long time, darn it!"

"Eh, whatever, let's just make sure we get sweet revenge!" Amy proposed dramatically.

"Here, here!" Ben agreed.

Their Pokemon half-heartedly joined in.

"Toto… dile…"

"Chim… char?"

It was good enough for them.

A few hours later, Ash, Misty, Debby, Ben, Amy, and their respective Pokemon were sitting around a table in the Ketchum's home. Misty and Debby worked hard to make a meal that would signify a grand send-off.

With everybody there, Professor Gary tapped his fork on a glass filled with Aspear berry wine, while the children had simple Moomoo Milk.

"I'd like to raise a toast for our youngsters setting off on their journey tomorrow, may they find out who they want to be, and become great Pokemon trainers! Best of luck to the both of you!" Professor Gary announced.

"Cheers," everyone emotionally agreed, bumping their glasses together.

"Okay, everyone, go ahead and dig in," Debby announced.

No one needed urging. The meal was delicious, having different salads, varieties of rice balls, pastas, pies (one not containing berries of any kind), and Slowpoke tail sandwiches, which yes, they were very guilty to eat, but they were just so good.

It was way too much for that small group of people to eat, so Ash and Misty kept some leftovers, Professor Gary gladly took the variety of pie nobody else liked, and Ben and Amy took some sandwiches for the road.

The Pokemon had eaten their food, and after that…everyone was full.

And it was getting very late.

Amy and Debby staggered home, with Debby being slightly tipsy from the Aspear berry wine, but she had monitored her consumption and they weren't driving anywhere.

Professor Gary waddled home, and everyone went to sleep.

Except Ben and Amy who were both wide awake in their own houses, dreading and looking forward to the start of their journey.

It was going to be a long night.


	7. Dreaming of You

Ben woke up with Cascade's foot smashing into his face awkwardly. He was glad the Pokemon was taking a liking to him, but did it know the importance of personal space?

The boy got excited for a moment, only to look at the clock and realize it was one in the morning, too early to get up. He set a goal, saying he could at least get ready by five.

"Why, Cascade, why?" Ben asked her, rolling over to face the window. It was dark, but Ben could see Amy's window next door and a faint flame, Toasty's tail. It was convenient to be next door neighbors. They always tried to learn Morse code, and create a system of pulleys to trade Pokemon cards, but the attempts all failed.

Ben smiled under his blanket. After thirteen years, they had been the very best of friends and that had never changed. He blinked slowly at the ceiling.

"Have I ever had other friends?" he asked to himself quietly, looking at an Arceus poster he had taped to the ceiling.

"There was that one time in second… no… that was one-sided, he always hated me…" Ben thought out loud to himself. Cascade growled in her sleep, then opened an eye to look at him.

"Well, I've never needed more friends than Amy," Ben told himself firmly, looking to Arceus for confirmation. The poster seemed to blink at him in understanding.

"Thank you Arceus, for Amy, I don't know what I'd do without her," Ben yawned sleepily, facing the window, "at least one friend…"

He promptly fell asleep.

Amy was awake, too. It was like when twins have similar thoughts and problems and can sense when the other is doing something, except… Amy was oblivious to Ben being awake, she just couldn't sleep, either.

Amy kept turning anxious thoughts in her head. Always excited, but doubtful at the last minute. This wouldn't do.

"I'm going to take on the world, and they're going to be sorry they met me," Amy said to Toasty defiantly, punching the air. He grumpily covered his ears, trying to sleep.

"But… what if we meet muggers…"

Toasty flinched.

"Or kidnappers…"

He chattered his teeth.

"Or… Poke Thieves!"

Toasty snuggled close to Amy and started whimpering.

"Oh, Toasty, we'll be okay. You'll just have to get stronger, my friend," Amy soothed quietly, stroking his head lovingly.

Amy tried to look through her window and see Ben. She knew for a fact that their windows faced each other, but all she could see was the black abyss of night.

Toasty was snoozing, chest rising and falling, with no flame-tail to be seen. Since she couldn't sleep, Amy checked her information on the Pokemon, Chimchar.

"**Chimchar agiley scales sheer cliffs to live atop craggy mountains. Its fire is put out when it sleeps."**

Amy frantically turned down the volume and hushed the inanimate object.

"Be a little louder, will you?" she said sarcastically.

"**Increasing volume."**

Amy uttered a word she shouldn't have used, and pressed the power button frantically.

"It's cool, but could use… I don't know… a voice lock or something?" Amy pondered, placing Dex-2 on her bedside table.

Amy's eyelids began to droop. Finally, she would be able to get some sleep.

"I'm going to conquer the world, they'll be sorry they met me…" Amy mumbled, then fell asleep quietly and began snoring. Toasty covered his ears in annoyance but was able to drift off to sleep, too.

Ben was dreaming. It was a nightmare, to be precise. All of his peers from school were staring down at him with yellow eyes and illuminated smiles, whispering insults.

"You'll never make it."

"Weakling…"

"Just give up now."

"You don't have any friends!"

Ben replied in a hoarse voice that kept getting softer and softer.

"I have the best friend in the world, and they're better than all of your friends put together! Just you wait, I'll be the best Pokemon trainer in the world! Just… you… wait…"

His voice disappeared into nothing, and so did the landscape around him.

The voices and faces melted away, too, until he was alone in a black void, with no ground, ceiling, or walls.

He jumped, afraid, when he saw a majestic Pokemon walking towards him that was absolutely terrifying at the same time.

It took a second to process, but Ben realized who it was.

"Arceus! Thank goodness, where am I?" Ben pleaded, scared to the point of kneeling in front of the celestial Pokemon. It blinked at him curiously.

"Maybe this dream is trying to tell you something, Ben Ketchum," Arceus suggested gently, sitting down on nothing.

"That's what everything in every dream says!" Ben yelled angrily.

"Maybe it has something to do with the future… your reputation as a Pokemon trainer, a new twist in your adventure, your friendship with that girl, Amy?" Arceus listed.

Ben's ears perked up at the name.

"Is she in danger?" Ben said assertively. Arceus looked at him a while.

"You're very fond of her, aren't you? I can't predict how your journey will go, of course you'll run into hardships and danger, but that's not the point, is it? Just… be prepared and keep an open mind," Arceus advised, beginning to flicker.

Ben was blushing at the comment about being fond of Amy and was going to shoot a comment back, but the Pokemon was already gone.

Ben awoke suddenly, but it was still too early. He rolled over and fell back asleep, tearing up a little.

Meanwhile, Amy was having wonderful dreams about achieving greatness, and the sun was shining, and every other cliche you can think of in a good dream.

Finally, the sun began to shine outside. Morning had arrived.


	8. Just A Weird Prom

Amy's eyes flew open and she leaped out of bed, causing Toasty to go flying and hit his head on the window, much to his discomfort.

"Sorry… sorry…" Amy breathed, in spite of not feeling very sorry at all. It was _time to go_. She had places to be… training to do…

For a minute, in her recently awake mind, Amy wondered if she was going to miss anything or anyone. Who really mattered at all? Then the weight came back to hit her in the head and she spontaneously cried. Her mom, Ash, Misty, Professor Gary… it certainly would be a while until she saw them again.

Amy took one of her blankets and wiped it on her eyes furiously, grabbing her travelling backpack and her Chimchar, heading downstairs.

"_It's time to go… well, after some breakfast of course…"_ she thought to herself with a growling stomach.

Ben, on the other hand suffered from temporary amnesia. He scratched his side and sleepily looked out the window and thought about how pretty the clouds were. Nothing interesting was happening, not at all… except.

"I'M SUCH AN IDIOT!" Ben screamed to himself, causing Misty to run outside his door.

"Ben, what just happened?" she demanded, hand on her hip.

"Nothing, Grandma Misty, just excited, that's all. Heh…" he laughed nervously.

"Well, you should be. It's time to get ready to go, you should probably be out of her around ten. Now come get some breakfast, I got toaster strudels…" she said, eyes softening.

"What did you just say? Toaster strudels? You never get those because they're packed with sugar and not a real breakfast!" Ben exclaimed, with the hugest smile on his face.

"Well, it _is_ your big day, here come on, we better double check everything…" Misty said, waving a hand.

Ben grinned inanely to himself. Everything was already off to a great start.

Amy bolted down the stairs to find Debby setting the table with macaroni and cheese, which made Amy confused.

"Why?" she asked curiously, sitting herself down at the table.

Toasty found himself a chair, with some Poffins waiting for him. He immediately began stuffing his face with no sense of table manners.

"It's your favorite," Debby whispered, and set herself at the table, too, grabbing a fork.

"And there's root beer in the refrigerator if you're thirsty," she added, like it was perfectly normal to have macaroni and cheese with root beer for breakfast.

Amy sat down to eat, knowing it would be a long time until she saw her mother, but enjoyed the meal as if nothing interesting were going to happen.

It was perfect.

Ben was almost too eager to leave, and felt little to no pre-homesickness while he ate his strudels and milk without a care. It wasn't in his nature to feel no regret about leaving, but that day was different.

Ash finally woke up and joined his grandson at the table, with his "lecture look" on his face.

"So, it's finally here, huh? Are you excited?" Ash asked sadly, with a smile on his face.

"You bet, of course!" Ben announced dramatically, holding his glass of milk in the air.

Ash nodded knowingly.

"Well, Benny, I'm already proud of you, you know that? I know you're going to be an amazing Pokemon trainer already. Now I know how mom felt when I left…" Ash added to himself, letting out a sigh.

"Great-grandma Delia…" Ben sighed, scowling slightly at the nickname his grandfather used, which wasn't even his real name at all… it was just Ben… not Benny, Benji, or Benjamin, just… Ben. That was allowed, right?

"Well, enough talk! Are you all packed?" Ash burst suddenly, erasing any emotional tension in the room. Misty walked in with a bulging backpack with a sleeping bag tied to the top.

"Yes, he's all packed," Misty breathed, a bittersweet smile on her face. She ran a hand through her hair and walked across the room to grab a strudel. She looked at the clock. It was time to go.

"Um, Ben? Do you think you could feed Rufus before… before you go? Don't think your chores aren't done just because you're leaving," Misty scolded playfully.

"Of course, Grandma Misty, of course," Ben answered obediently.

"That's the first time he's ever willingly fed Rufus," Misty exhaled, leaning against the counter. Ash took her hand.

"He's already grown up and he hasn't left yet. Kind of reminds me…" Ash began, unable to finish.

"Of Lacy…" Misty finished.

There was a very uncomfortable silence in the room.

Meanwhile, Amy was sitting on her couch, petting the ancient Raticate that her mom called Munchy, a Pokemon she had on her journey that just seemed to never age and had been with Amy her whole life.

The poor Pokemon was a mess. Half-blind, no tail, patches of fur missing, teeth worn down (so it couldn't eat anything too hard), and too cuddly for its own good. The poor thing should've been put out of its misery except… he never seemed to be in pain, just missing a few things, that's all.

He was always perfectly happy. And Amy was heartbroken to leave him behind.

"Oh, Munchy, you know I would love for you to come with me… but you're retired, remember? And you wouldn't last one battle, I can assure you. You do belong to Mom, you know," Amy explained to him, stroking his head, careful not to touch the part that made him bite her for some reason.

He chattered his teeth at her, and wagged his stump of a tail.

"Raticate…" he mumbled, cuddling close to her.

"I remember when I caught him as a Rattata… just over in Viridian Forest actually. I've told you this story, haven't I?" Debby interrupted suddenly, sitting down on the couch.

"A million and a half times," Amy reminded her, snuggling close to her mom with Munchy under her arm, "but tell it again."

"When I started my Pokemon journey, the Professor Oak League was obviously not invented yet, but I was just going to the normal Indigo League, and maybe hit a few other leagues, too. When I was younger than you, all the starter Pokemon had been discovered, so I had a choice, just like you," Debby retold. Toasty, who had been snoozing on the kitchen table, bounded over so he could listen to the story. He was a little jealous of Munchy, but stayed quiet.

"And you chose Squirtle," Amy added.

"Yep, that's right, Drizzle is what I called him," Debby recounted with sweet nostalgia, then snapped back to her story.

"It was my first day, and I decided suddenly that I needed another Pokemon. So I somehow internally promised myself that the first Pokemon I saw would be the one I had to catch. Little did I know that the Pokemon I would catch would literally come up to me and introduce itself," Debby laughed. Amy smiled. This was her favorite part.

"So I was sitting under a tree, eating a chocolate peanut butter sandwich, and out of nowhere, a Rattata drops out of the tree and _bites_ my nose!"

Amy broke into a fit of giggles, imagining the look on her mom's face when a Rattata bit her nose.

"As you can imagine, I was ticked off so I took Drizzle, who wasn't very powerful yet, mind you, and vowed I would catch that Pokemon. I followed it around for hours, and finally was able to catch it. As it turned out, it just wanted some of my sandwich, and didn't know how to ask," Debby finished, stroking Munchy.

"I'm going to try that," Amy decided suddenly.

"What, feed a Rattata a sandwich?" Debby chuckled.

"No, catch the first Pokemon I meet in Viridian forest. It would make things a bit more interesting," Amy corrected her.

"Well, you do that, just make sure it's not some awful Pokemon like a… Muk or a Spinarak!" Debby said, face shrinking in disgust at the mention of the Pokemon.

"Okay, Mom," Amy said quietly.

It was time to go…

Ben patted Rufus's head one last time, and decided it was time to go. There was no grand send-off in the end, just a quick goodbye hug and kiss from his grandparents and a million promises that he would call. Cascade rested on his shoulder along with a very full backpack.

Ben showed up at Amy's door and felt like he was asking her to some weird prom, with a Totodile on his shoulder, and lingering bits of toaster strudel on his upper lip.

Debby showed up at the door and revealed that Amy was ready to go, too. After saying goodbye to her mom and Munchy, Amy walked out the door and smiled at her friend with Toasty hanging on her backpack.

It was really time to go.

Ben and Amy took a step on the dirt road leading to the Viridian Forest, tempted to run back. Debby stood at the door in tears, as did Ash and Misty. The two didn't look back once until they were at the top of the hill and their guardians looked like little Caterpie. They waved, and kept going.

It certainly was a weird prom, indeed.


	9. Amy Catches A Pokemon

They had been walking a solid five minutes when Ben stopped on the road.

"Did we forget to say goodbye to the Professor?" he asked suddenly, kicking a pebble to the side of the road.

"No," Amy replied, "he said goodbye to us a million times last night because he wouldn't have been able to see us off because he's busy with stuff."

"Busy with stuff," Ben echoed, "I understand now."

Amy knew Ben was mad but ignored that and took in the scenery. She and her mom would go on walks from time to time, but not very far. Amy shaded her eyes with her hand from the sun. No wild Pokemon yet.

"What are you looking for?" Ben questioned, sipping from his water bottle.

"I'm going to catch the first Pokemon I see to make things interesting. It's what Mom did and she found Munchy, so I would say it worked out for the best," Amy explained.

"Okay," Ben warned, "But you can only capture six Pokemon _period_. And you can only catch one Kanto Pokemon so choose carefully."

"Who are you, my mother?" Amy scoffed, searching intently with her eyes. Where were all the Pokemon? Dead or something?

Ben heard it first behind him. A rustling noise coming from a medium-sized Pokemon shook the tree and its silhouette could be seen descending the trunk. Ben stabbed Amy's shoulder with a finger, which forced her to spin around.

"Pokemon over there," he grunted inaudibly, but Amy could understand him.

"Whaaa? Really?" she shrieked quietly, if you can believe it. Amy called to Toasty, who had been hanging on her backpack, and he jumped in between her and the tree.

"Let's do this, Toasty!"Amy whisper-shouted. He looked her in the eye and nodded.

"Chimchaaa!" he whisper-shouted back.

They were ready for anything that could come out of that bush. A Spearow, Bellsprout, Pidgey, Rattata, Caterpie, or even a Weedle. But what really jumped out of the bush really surprised them, something they weren't expecting to see.

And the Pokemon wasn't expecting to see them, either.

"Meoooow," he yawned at them, very indifferent to what was going to happen.

Then he looked at Toasty and got really angry.

Even though Amy knew what it was, she whipped out her Pokedex anyway, just to be better informed.

"**Adores circular objects. Wanders the streets on a nightly basis to look for dropped loose change."**

"Meowth, that's what I thought. There's just a million cat Pokemon, I had to be sure," Amy said to herself happily, putting Dex-2 away.

While she had been looking at her Pokedex, Amy hadn't noticed that Toasty and the Meowth were having a very intense staring contest.

"That's weird. Ben, why are they doing that? It's creepy, why are they doing that?" Amy repeated herself.

"No idea," Ben answered, "But it looks like they've been holding a grudge or something from before Toasty was yours."

"That's descriptive," Amy said.

She watched the Meowth closely who was now pacing in a circle with Toasty.

"You know, Starter Pokemon do start out as wild Pokemon. Maybe they knew each other and got in some sort of argument," Ben suggested, bending down to get a better look.

When his sentence ended, the Meowth gave him a death glare and quickly scratched Ben's nose with his front paw. Ben yelled in alarm and fell backwards on the ground.

"Ben Ketchum! Are you okay?" Amy asked in surprise, kneeling down to look at his nose. It wasn't a deep cut at all, just needing a simple bandage, but annoying all the same.

Ben glanced darkly at the ground and met Amy's eyes with a weird fire in them.

"Amy, get that stupid Pokemon if it's the last thing you do," Ben encouraged her darkly.

"Uh, okay," Amy agreed, even though he sounded more like he wanted to assassinate the Pokemon instead of simply capture it. She nervously turned to face the Leering Pokemon.

She decided to go with the element of surprise.

"Toasty, Scratch! C'mon let's go!" she shouted.

Toasty jumped into the air and angrily tried to Scratch the Meowth's head, but the Pokemon just sat there, letting Toasty Scratch the coin on it's head, not providing any damage at all, just needing a little polishing.

"Toasty, why do you have to know just Scratch and Leer?" Amy whispered to herself, trying not to hurt the Pokemon's feelings.

After a few minutes of the two Pokemon Leering and Scratching, Ben and Amy ended up with the same problem when they battled. It got boring and tedious.

With her eyes half-closed, Amy stopped caring at all, but jolted awake when Toasty furiously spewed fire onto the Meowth's head, something that he shouldn't have been able to do.

The Meowth sat, confused, trying to comprehend that he was just beaten.

His eyes swirled to the back of its head, and fell over.

Amy blinked, then turned to look at Toasty, boiling with anger, for who knows what reason. Amy picked up her partner that she was already so close to, and detached a Pokeball from her belt, and tossed it carefully to the unconscious Pokemon.

The sphere turned the Meowth into red matter, and absorbed it.

The Pokeball rolled, once, twice… then three times and produced a satisfying, "ding" to signify that the Pokemon had been caught. Dex-2 turned on to tell Amy that Toasty had learned Ember.

Ben looked up at her with pride and a bandage on his nose. It stung like heck, but he clapped and cheered for his friend, who had just caught a wild Pokemon all by herself. Ben patted Cascade's head and watched as Amy called out her Meowth.

"Okay, fella, let's get you healed up," Amy said quietly, getting a Potion out of her backpack. She sprayed it a few times on the Meowth and he slowly opened his eyes.

"Meow…" he said contentedly, then looked over at Toasty, looking very smug.

"Char?" he asked the Meowth, sticking out a paw.

The Meowth purred in response, and stuck out his own paw.

"Thank goodness they decided to be friends," Amy said to Ben, with an uncontrollable smile on her lips.

"If they kept their grudge, it would make things hard on you," Ben laughed.

Amy thought for a moment.

"What are you going to call him?" Ben asked.

"I was just thinking about that. It's cliched and kind of stupid, but Lucky seems to fit him pretty well," Amy sighed to herself.

"I think," Ben agreed, "that's the dumbest name ever, but please use it before I steal it."

Amy was already punching the letters into her Pokedex, while Toasty and Lucky were having a conversation, making sure that everything was good between them.

Ben watched as Cascade ran to join them, introducing herself to Lucky.

"I will get another Pokemon, too," he vowed to himself.


	10. A Fateful Picnic

Ben wasn't quite ready to catch another Pokemon so soon, so he took the time to enjoy the view of Viridian Forest. The trees surrounded them, leaves rustling with wind and wild Pokemon. Different kinds of berry bushes dotted the side of the trail, and Bug-type Pokemon flocked competitively to them.

The clouds looked like mounds of mashed potatoes, that looked like they could decide to start raining at any minute. The sun spread its optimism through the forest, making the Pidgey and Spearow sing their name continuously.

It was stunning. Neither of the teenagers had words, so they strolled carelessly through the woods, admiring the world they lived in.

Toasty and Lucky were walking behind Amy, Toasty on two legs, Lucky on four. They were catching up, in whispers, so not to obliterate the mood. Ben opened his mouth, then thought better of it.

"What was that?" Amy asked, catching that he was about to speak.

"Hmm? Oh, I just think we ought to stop for lunch. A nice, sunny picnic, perhaps?" he offered, gesturing to a fallen tree a few feet off the trail.

Cascade jumped off Ben's shoulder, running away from him.

"Cascade, what the-" Ben started, beginning to run after her.

With the two occupied, Amy shook her head, and started setting up the leftovers for lunch. They had a thermos of Moomoo milk that was in a miniature cooler, some Slowpoke Tail sandwiches, some pastas, rice balls, and the chocolate pie without any berries.

Amy cheerfully set out plates, whistling a tune, setting the sandwiches down just so.

Ben was still off trying to find Cascade, and Amy didn't get suspicious until she was done setting the food out. Lucky and Toasty were eating some Pokemon food, and looked distantly out at the forest, wondering why they hadn't returned.

"Toasty come with me. Lucky, guard the food at all costs," Amy ordered.

Each Pokemon surprisingly obeyed.

Amy and Toasty slowly meandered in the general direction of where Ben had chased Cascade. It was weird how the Pokemon had suddenly taken off.

"Ben," Amy called.

"Chim!" Toasty tried to echo.

They kept going, past all the overgrown vegetation. Amy had to constantly push plants away, occasionally finding a Caterpie crawling on her arm, only to brush it away.

Toasty and Amy found themselves in a clearing, with a very deep and wide ditch, separating it from the other side. There were sharp rocks sticking out of either side.

Toasty first spotted Ben, dangerously crawling across a branch dangling from the side of the ditch. Cascade stubbornly sat at the end, seemingly sniffing at something.

Amy gasped loudly. Ben turned to look at her.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" Ben exclaimed over to her.

"I almost gave you a heart attack? Do you see yourself right now?" Amy screamed.

Ben glanced down at the bottomless pit beneath him, gulping in fear, he shakily turned his head towards Amy again, lifting a thumbs up.

Cascade wouldn't budge. Amy cursed under her breath.

"You dumb Pokemon, what did Ben ever do to you?" she fussed, praying that her best friend wouldn't be impaled by a spiky rock.

Time stood still as he slithered gradually towards Cascade.

"Ben, there has to be a different way to do this! Can't we get a rope or something? You're making me very nervous," I cried, fearing his life.

"No, no. I've almost got her. Here, Cascade…" he coaxed. The Pokemon still stared off blankly, at what could've easily just been another tree.

Ben's glasses slid to the edge of his nose, and fell a short distance, to a branch a few feet down. Amy cringed as he grabbed at them. He had terrible eyesight without them.

"Ben, don't move," Amy said, running towards the set of branches, "we'll figure something out, but don't move."

Ben froze in fear, clutching to a branch dangling above a dangerous pit that might've as well led to a black hole, for all he knew.

Amy was thinking over options, when she heard an ominous cracking noise.

She feared the worst, eyes darting to the branch. It was breaking under Ben's weight. Cascade started to fidget, realizing the danger she had gotten the both of them into.

"Ben, don't move," Amy repeated, still thinking.

But it was too late.

Amy shrieked in terror as the branch started to fall. It broke, and he landed on the other branch below him with his glasses. He reached ever-so-gently for his glasses, and took in the surroundings.

"Arceus," Ben sobbed. He hugged Cascade tight, even though she was the cause of his fate. She started weeping, too, not meaning for them to fall.

Amy had a thousand thoughts racing through her head. There were no adults to come and fix everything, this was something she had to do alone.

Rope… yes, that's what they needed. "_I can cast it out to Ben and Cascade, wrap it partially around a tree… and pull them up, that'll work,"_ she thought to herself.

"Ben, I'll be right back," Amy promised, hurrying off to get rope.

Just as she had turned her back, she heard the cracking noise again.

Amy sped back to the edge to see Ben falling, screaming, and fighting.

Time stopped altogether, and Amy was at a loss for words.

She threw her head to the sky, already mentally quitting the Pokemon league and writing Ben's obituary.

"Ben!"

When all hope was lost, and Amy thought her journey was over when it had just begun, she saw a blur of two Pokemon on the other side of the ditch. One wrapped itself around a tree, and held another's arm in its mouth.

A girl showed up beside the two Pokemon, frantically barking orders.

Amy identified the Pokemon wrapped around the tree as an Arbok, holding a Roserade's arm in its mouth. The Pokemon released vines from one of its arms, wrapping around Ben, who held Cascade tightly to his chest.

The girl barked another command, and the Arbok wrapped itself more around the tree on the other side, and the Roserade pulled Ben and Cascade to the surface.

Amy's eyes watered in happiness.

She started to rush towards them, but realized the distance to the other side was too great. The girl said something, and the Arbok stretched its body to the other side, like a tightrope in a circus act. The Roserade scampered across, then wrapped its vines around Amy's waist, following her to the other side.

Amy carefully walked across the Arbok's back, who didn't seem to mind being used as a bridge. When she reached the other side, Amy threw her arms around Ben, glad he was okay.

Ben and Amy slowly looked at the girl, who was issuing orders to her Pokemon, who showed up at her side.

Amy couldn't think of anything to say, so she asked the first question that popped into her mind.

"Won't you join us for lunch?"


	11. Enter Irene!

Ben, who was still pretty shaken up about his misadventures, looked over the girl sitting across from him, drinking from Amy's water bottle. She couldn't have been older than seven, judging from her height. She had dark brown skin, sleek black hair twisted into a braid, and fingernails painted a loud, expressive pink.

She wore a stereotypical raincoat, jeans with a Butterfree patch sewn on one of the pockets, and purple sneakers with rainbow-colored laces.

Ben thought it was odd that the girl hadn't said anything to him or Amy yet, only talking to her Pokemon, an Arbok and Roserade, who were sharing food with Cascade and Toasty. Lucky looked at them suspiciously, jealous because they were getting attention and he had only just been caught.

Amy held out a container full of rice balls to the girl.

"That's Ben, I'm Amy. Want some?"

The girl looked at Amy, then at the rice balls, then grabbed them, and nodded at Amy in gratitude. She started eating them daintily, taking tiny bites.

"So… what's your name?" Ben asked slowly.

"Mmph," she said through a mouthful of food. She swallowed self-consciously, wiping rice off her chin with the sleeve of her raincoat.

"Apologies. I'm Irene," she muttered, taking a few more bites from a rice ball.

Ben and Amy exchanged looks. When did a little girl ever say "apologies"? Usually they half-heartedly say "I'm soooory" without meaning it.

Looking at her, Amy decided that she could just be a very short teenager, but needed to ask anyhow.

"Umm… how old are you?" Amy asked sweetly, not wanting to put pressure on her.

"And thank you for saving me," Ben chimed in, "I was so in shock I forgot to thank you. When did you get so good with Pokemon?"

"Ben, one question at a time!" Amy silenced him, then laughed nervously.

Irene blinked her black eyes.

"I'm supposed to be seven and a half," she remarked, taking another sip of water.

There was a minute of just the sound of chewing.

"Supposed to be… what does that mean… doesn't matter…" Amy babbled to herself.

Ben looked Irene over in concern.

"Where are your parents, Irene?" Ben finished for Amy.

She pointed her head at the ground sadly, and changed the subject.

"I-I can't take all the c-credit," Irene stuttered, putting her arm around the Arbok, "Venom and Dewey rescued you, I barely lifted a finger for them to carry out their tasks, please, thank them instead!"

"Who's who?" Amy inquired.

"Venom is the Arbok, and Dewey is the Roserade… I didn't name them," Irene explained.

Lucky, Toasty, and Cascade were acquainting themselves with the newcomers, sizing them up and deciding if they were friends or not.

Lucky was tough enough to present himself first. He meowed introductions about himself, then gestured to Cascade and Toasty, who were still looking skeptical.

Venom slithered over from Cascade's food bowl, and happily gave Cascade's head a lick to thank it for sharing its food. The Pokemon obviously forgot it was Poison-type, because Cascade immediately shivered and fell over in a faint. Ben rushed over to the fallen Pokemon.

"Cascade, are you alright?" he whimpered.

The Pokemon's eyes rolled to the back of its head, sort of when a Pokemon faints after an intense battle.

"Oh… Venom, you big buffoon. You know you can't go licking other Pokemon, there's a reason your name is Venom, any Pokemon will be _poisoned_," Irene scolded, searching through her backpack, unconcerned.

"Will Cascade be okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, she'll be fine, if you're talking about the Totodile. I have a spare Antidote in one of these pockets… ah, here we are!" she declared, holding a syringe of medicine into the air.

Irene knelt down next to Cascade, and jabbed the needle into the Totodile's side, forcing the medicine inside her body. Ben and Amy didn't get to put in a word before they let a little kid handle medical decisions.

Sure enough, Cascade perked up, looking unaffected, even forgiving Venom for his blunder. She even shook "hands" with Dewey, which was more like claws and rose bouquets.

Amy was impressed, but felt she should try again with a previous question.

"Where are your parents, or guardians, or somebody you know?" she asserted, determined to get an answer out of her.

"I don't know," she cried.

"Where did you last see them and how did you even get to Viridian Forest in the first place?" Ben coaxed.

"I can't tell you because… I can't go back there, it's evil there, and they would kill me if they knew I ran away!" Irene blurted.

"Ben can I have a word with you in _private_," Amy emphasized, pulling Ben's arm.

"Hey!" he protested, "Personal space!"

Amy led him until they were a few feet away from the picnic area.

She took a few more strides away to make sure Irene wasn't listening.

"What is a little girl doing wandering around in Viridian Forest alone? What are we going to do with her?" Amy worried.

"Take her with us? The authorities in Viridian City can handle it, we can take her there, as long as we're heading there," Ben said calmly.

"I don't know how to handle kids, even if it's until…" Amy looked up at the sky, realizing that the sun was setting, "early tomorrow. I had to watch my little second cousin, you remember him, right? He got a bloody nose within _five_ minutes!"

"It's okay, remember I have young family members, too. I babysat for them a few times and it worked… mostly because they were obsessed with a book and just wanted me to read it over and over... But Irene seems different. I mean, she knew how to direct a Pokemon to save my life, a very intricate plan off the top of her head," Ben lectured, "plus she knew how to save Cascade, which is basic Pokemon medicine, but she _knew_. That's pretty impressive, huh?"

"I'm really glad we decided to travel together," Amy admitted.

"Me, too," Ben agreed.

They walked back to where Irene was still eating. She had made herself comfortable on a stump, with Venom wrapped around her feet, and Dewey sitting next to her.

"She does have a strong connection with her Pokemon," Amy admired.

Irene looked up.

"The authorities aren't going to know who I am," she said coldly, stroking Venom's head like a despicable mastermind.

"You heard us?" Amy panicked.

"I'm program- I… have really good hearing," she stammered.

"What were you just about to say? Programmed?" Ben asked.

"I'm a little kid! I say dumb stuff!" she yelled, then looked at the ground.

"You know kids don't usually admit it…" Amy pointed out. Irene made a disgusted noise, then stood up.

"I don't even know why I'm here. It's almost sundown and we're having lunch, I have other things to do, and you can't get involved, you've learned too much. Venom, Dewey, we're going," she snapped, starting to walk away.

Ben darted in front of her.

"You're not going anywhere," Ben ordered.

Irene's eyes moved everywhere, knowing her own strength wouldn't match that of a teenage boy. She turned her head to her Pokemon.

"Venom! Poison Sting!" Irene shouted.

The Cobra Pokemon snapped into a cold personality, differing from the one only moments ago, and opened his mouth to release the attack.

"Lucky, Scratch! Toasty, Ember!"

Lucky sank its claws into the Arbok's back, taking him by surprise.

"Ssss Arbok!" he hissed. The Ember only added more pain.

"Dewey, Vine Whip!" Irene called.

The Pokemon still sat on the stump, looking at a dandelion blowing in the wind, seeds departing from the center. He looked up in disdain at the battle going on, then looked away.

"Oh, why do you have to be a pacifist? Not that I don't support you… oh, I always say the wrong thing. Oh, Dewey, I'm so sorry. I know you're sensitive," Irene soothed, sprinting over to her dear Pokemon, grabbing his face in her hands.

Amy and Ben were very confused, analyzing the kind of finished battle. Venom had seen better days, with Toasty and Lucky checking to make sure their defeated friend was still alive.

Irene was in a whisper conversation with Dewey.

"You like them don't you?"

"Rose… Roserade!"

"But they can't take us back!"

"Rose."

"I know, I know. They seem like nice people."

"Rade, Roserade."

"We could just have a peaceful talk, just a talk."

"Roserade…"

"Okay, no running, no fighting, I promise."

"Rade, Rade!"

"I love you, too, buddy!"

Irene looked at Ben and Amy.

"Did you catch all that?" she said angrily, "I'm only trusting you because Dewey does, and I've known him and Venom since I was… born. They were just a Budew and Ekans when I was a baby, so I trust their word better than any of my feelings on anything."

"Okay, what do you want to talk about, Irene?" Amy said, crossing her arms in suspicion.

"My situation that I can't tell you about," she explained.

Amy was about to say something, but was hushed by a hand.

"You don't want a little girl to be wandering around without trusted parents or guardians, correct?" she prompted.

"Correct," Ben answered.

"Then let me travel with you, and you both can watch over me, so I can stay hidden from… the thing I was getting away from. If I keep traveling they can't find me," she said.

"Why should we, we're going to be training for the Professor Oak League, and a kid getting in the way… doesn't sound too appealing," Amy smirked.

Irene twisted a lock of hair in her fingers.

"I could be a coach," she muttered.

"A coach? You?" Ben laughed.

"No offense, but the so-called Pokemon that you've had your whole life were just brought down by two low-level Pokemon that I got yesterday and today," Amy complained.

"I was holding back," Irene confided quietly.

Ben rolled his eyes

"We'll decide in the morning, but for now we should set up camp," Amy decided, "Do you have a sleeping bag, Irene?"

"I have something better than a sleeping bag!" she retorted.

Amy and Ben started setting up their sleeping bags, knowing their journey just had an unexpected twist. Venom had wrapped itself around Irene, with Dewey letting her use one of his arms as a pillow. Ben and Amy climbed in their sleeping bags, and started falling asleep almost immediately.

Lucky and Toasty were positioned by Amy's head and were already snoring.

Cascade was on Ben's chest.

Irene glanced over at Amy and glared.

"_Great,"_ Amy thought, "_So this is what parenting is like."_


	12. The Big Decision

There was something Amy forgot about. Ben _snores_. And it sounds like an Ursaring growling. So she didn't get too many winks of sleep that night. Irene slept through the noise like a baby. Amy woke up early in the morning, and decided to get breakfast set up.

There was one hiccup in her plan. Lucky and Toasty were resting on top of her, sound asleep. Skillfully, Amy scooped the both of them into her arms, and crawled out of her sleeping bag, which was just haphazardly lying in the middle of the woods, no mat or tent or anything…

Lucky opened one eye, but closed it for lack of caring.

Amy placed them in the sleeping bag, so they would stay warm, even though Toasty was keeping _her_ warm.

The sun was just starting to stretch into the sky, telling Viridian Forest to wake up. Different Bird-type Pokemon were singing, Bug-types clicking their wings, and a gentle, cool breeze reminding them that Summer, even though just beginning, doesn't last forever.

Amy put a few large rocks together, and sprawled a beach towel across it as a tablecloth. She set out three plastic plates she used as a child. It was less wasteful than paper plates, and not as breakable as regular plates, so they were perfect for travel.

Amy checked in her backpack, noticing that they still had a large container of spaghetti, and a small container of Parmesan cheese. Perfect to tide them over until they could get to a store in Viridian City.

Amy debated heating up the pasta. She was okay with Fire-type Pokemon, but was skittish with matches and the management of fires. Ben wasn't skittish, but didn't know how to start a fire.

"Cold pasta it is," Amy sighed, taking a fork and dishing it out equally onto the three plates. There was still a little Moomoo milk left, so she served it into cups.

Next was the Pokemon food.

It was the kind that Debbie always fed to Munchy, because it was supposed to help with arthritis and longevity and stuff like that.

This made Amy homesick.

"If Pokemon food makes me homesick, I have serious problems," Amy insulted herself, making sure of each Pokemon's weight, so she fed them correctly.

She took out Dex-2 to check on Venom and Dewey.

Turning down the volume considerably, she listened to what it had to say, but mostly looking at the weight. Venom was close to 150 pounds, to her surprise.

"**It is rumored that the ferocious warning markings on its belly differ from area to area,"** the machine recited in a monotone.

"150!" Amy whisper shouted, checking on the Pokemon food. Three cups, for 150 pounds to 200 pounds. She examined Dewey.

"**It attracts prey with a sweet aroma, then downs it with thorny whips hidden in its arms."**

"That's creepy," Amy commented, noting that the Pokemon was 32 pounds.

One cup for Dewey.

Everyone was still off in dreamland, not knowing they were about to be disturbed.

"How should I wake them up?" Amy wondered evilly, rubbing her hands together.

"Hmm… I know. There's those dumb people Ash and Misty were always quoting, let's see if I can remember. It's awkward when you say it by yourself… but meh, it works," Amy thought out loud. She took a deep breath and scared off any Pokemon that might've come close to their humble camp.

"TO PROTECT THE WORLD FROM DEVASTATION!" Amy boomed awkwardly, having no idea what the quote meant. Ben immediately bolted awake, clutching his chest.

"Great Arceus, Amy! Have you no sympathy?" he wheezed. He calmed down and smiled in recognition of what she was doing.

"To unite all people within our nation,"he continued.

"To denounce the evils of truth and love!"

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

There was a pause, as Amy changed it a little.

"Amy!"

"Ben?"

"Pokemon trainers blast off with the speed of light!"

"Surrender now or prepare to fight!"

Completely coincidental, Lucky yawned at the right moment.

"Meeeeeowth."

Ben and Amy snickered, then exploded in laughter. They heard a groan from Irene, who had just woken up.

"Good morning," Amy said cautiously, not wanting to provoke another mood.

"Morning," she replied sweetly enough, sitting at the "table."

"Cold spaghetti?" she asked.

Amy nodded.

Irene didn't say anything past that, twirling her fork in the spaghetti, then sprinkling some cheese on top.

"Thanks for setting the table, Amy," Ben complimented, getting his own fork.

Every word out of Ben and Amy's mouth was carefully planned out, making sure Irene knew that she was welcome for the time being, and they were still considering exactly what they were going to do with her.

"You're welcome, Ben. I didn't get any sleep last night because of your snoring, so I was up early," Amy accused in a weirdly gracious way.

"You seem perky as ever," Ben observed.

"Perky is not the word to describe me, Benjamin. I prefer part-time optimistic," Amy corrected. She braced herself for the next comment.

"Benjamin is not my name!" Ben seethed.

"It probably is," Amy argued.

"No, seriously. If you looked on my birth certificate it would say 'Ben Alexander Ketchum' and not 'Benjamin.' Besides, how do we know your real name isn't Amanda or Amelia?" Ben shot back smugly.

Amy tried to come up with a smart response, but was too sleepy.

"Touche," she said.

Irene looked up at the arguing pair with obsidian eyes that were begging for an answer. She swallowed another forkful of spaghetti, and watched her Pokemon eat.

"What are you going to do with me? I'm sorry we got off on the wrong foot, and I understand if you don't believe a word out of my mouth. But… Cascade trusts me, just ask her," Irene urged, pointing to the Big Jaw Pokemon.

"What makes you say that?" Ben said carefully.

Irene looked at the ground.

"I was what Cascade was looking at yesterday when Ben almost fell. I was trying to shoo her away, so her trainer wouldn't see me and ask why a little girl was wandering in the woods, but she tried to get to me in her curiosity, and ended up on the end of the big branch. When you showed up," Irene gestured to Ben, "I had to hide myself… but when I knew you were about to fall, I didn't know what to do. Jeopardize my freedom? Save a human…. a fellow _human _life?"

Amy was mostly approving of the use of the word "jeopardize."

"But then I heard Cascade," Irene retold, "and she was clearly saying, 'help us, little girl, help us!'"

"Wait," Ben interjected, "you know what Pokemon are saying?"

"A little, I can roughly translate what they're trying to say," Irene brushed off, pretending it wasn't a big deal.

"Who _are_ you?" Amy asked, kind of scared.

"I can't tell you… but you're the only ones to listen this long," Irene sniffled.

"Five minutes?" Ben pointed out, looking at the time on his Pokedex.

"You'd be surprised," she answered.

Amy had a sudden idea.

"Let's have a Pokemon battle, whoever wins gets to decide… you're arrangement for the time being," Amy proposed.

"Fair enough," Irene chuckled, "but I'll win."

"With a pacifist Pokemon?" Ben questioned, nodding his head at Dewey the Roserade.

"He's only like that when the battle is not for fun. Dewey will fight his hardest when he knows that the Pokemon will be okay at the end of the battle, and it's all just a test of strength, mostly in good fun. He's not to be underestimated," Irene cautioned.

"Noted. Who's battling who, then?" Ben asked.

"Amy and I could have a double battle, two on two," Irene requested.

"Fair enough," Amy echoed Irene, gulping. She had two low level Pokemon, whereas Irene had two fully evolved powerhouses that would crush Lucky and Toasty like a grape.

"Let's clean up everything… and get going. We can find a nice place to battle along the way," Ben suggested, not feeling at all left out.

The three helped pack everything up, leaving the clearing of grass spotless, only leaving body imprints in the grass. All Pokemon stayed with their respective owners, and the group continued along in silence.

The trail was spotted by Irene, and those were the last words out of anyone's mouths for a good, long time.

The scenery was changed from yesterday. Everything came from the dead and danced, for it was windy. Both girls struggled to keep their hair out of their eyes. Irene took a hair tie from her wrist, and fashioned a braid while she walked. Dewey sat casually on her shoulder, and she asked him with body language to tie her hair.

The Pokemon was able to carry out this action with his teeth and one arm, somehow.

Irene looked up shyly at everyone.

"I've never been good at the tying part," she confessed.

Dewey patted her braid with a rose bouquet arm.

The trio maintained their moderate pace, only stopping to grab a water bottle from their backpack, or hearing a strange noise with all the wind.

It wasn't for a few hours until the group decided to take an official break.

It was a wide clearing full of flowers and dry grass, perfect for a battle, but even better for a picnic.

"It hasn't been that long since breakfast, but I'll already famished!" Ben said to himself.

"Well, we only have a few rice balls and a large salad we could divvy up. We can go shopping in Viridian City," Amy announced, revealing the small amount of food.

"This looks like enough," Ben nodded.

Amy got out the plastic plates again, dividing the food up equally among the plates. Irene stood away from the preparation of food, rocking back and forth on her feet, biting the inside of her cheek awkwardly.

"What are you thinking about, Irene?" Amy asked out of the blue.

Irene hesitated.

"I've never caught my own Pokemon before, and… I'm not saying I want to, but what's it like… to catch a Pokemon, I mean," Irene wondered.

"I can't say I have the most experience, since I only caught a Pokemon for the first time yesterday," Amy chortled, "but I can say this. It feels awesome, like you're on top of the world, and in control of everything… d-does that make sense?"

"Completely. It's just, I envy you, I don't even know what it's like to catch one, since my parents worked at a Pokemon Breeding Center. They sort of got attached to me, Dewey and Venom," Irene said, nodding to her Pokemon.

"I wish I could have a stronger bond with my Pokemon… so really Irene, I envy _you_. Do you know what it's like, not being on the same page as your Pokemon?" Amy questioned.

Irene shook her head, like she couldn't believe such a tragedy could exist.

"Well…" Amy said, smiling sadly.

Ben had been off, inspecting the field. Irene and Amy hadn't really been paying attention, so the next statement came as a shock.

"I just caught a Pokemon!" Ben revealed, showing off a Pokeball.

"Wait, what?" Amy shrieked happily.

"Since when?" Irene asked dubiously.

"Just now! There was a Pokemon wandering around, so I just decided to go for it, and I just caught a little Weedle! Isn't that great?" Ben rambled, throwing the sphere to the ground.

A white stream of energy surged from the sphere, producing a tiny, adorable Bug Pokemon.

"Weedle!" he exclaimed, seeming very enthusiastic.

"Aww, Ben. That's awesome!" Amy praised, if somewhat confused.

"I'm gonna call you… Bean! Because you're so cute," Ben cooed, as if he were talking to an infant. The Pokemon excitedly crawled on Ben's arm, probably just because it was warm.

"I hate to interrupt," Irene broke in, as Ben typed some letters into his Pokedex, "but are we gonna battle or not?"

Amy was going to protest, since they hadn't even eaten lunch, but she was feeling confident.

"Yeah, okay. Let's do this," Amy said.

Ben started eating.

"Lunch and a show. What gets better?" he laughed to himself.

Amy called over to Toasty and Lucky. They pounced in front of her in the ready position, intimidating the opponents. Irene simply flicked a finger towards the battle field, and the Pokemon slithered and walked over.

"Ben, could you do the honors?" Irene requested.

"Sure thing. Trainers… umm… rules, blah blah blah. Okay, ready, go!" Ben announced, unable to contain his laughter.

Irene was fast. It wasn't humanly possible. Amy didn't even get a chance to half-blink, and Irene had already destroyed her Pokemon. And she had only snapped the fingers on her left hand.

Venom used Bind on Lucky and threw him against a tree about ten feet away from the field in a flash of color and movement. Dewey used its Vine Whip to throw Toasty against the same tree. The two defeated Pokemon within seconds. Lucky and Toasty slumped against each other, spirals in their eyes.

"I-I...uh…" Amy spluttered, dashing to her Pokemon.

"That's what they all say," Irene whispered smugly.

Amy would've been upset, if it hadn't been for the fact that healing her Pokemon was very easy. She took out a few Potions, and the two Pokemon were as good as new. Plus, she wanted to learn what Irene just did.

"That… was kind of awesome,"Ben exploded, completely awestruck.

"Okay… at the moment, I don't care who you are, but you're coming with us!" Amy exclaimed, despite the fact she was just beat.

"I understand if… wait, what? You really want me to tag along? Some annoying kid that could be a foreign spy for all you know?" Irene sighed in disbelief.

"I don't really see why not… I mean three is the lucky group number. Amy, your mom never traveled with just one person, neither did Grandpa Ash. In fact, Grandma was his very first traveling partner! Besides, Irene. We could learn a lot from you. And if you don't want to tell us about yourself yet, that's okay, we won't pry," Ben promised, putting a hand on her shoulder. She politely pushed it away.

Irene smiled just a little.

"I'm your coach then," she confirmed.

She received two hearty nods.

"Your first job is to get us safely to Viridian City. I've heard there's an amazing gym there, and you both are going to get an Earth Badge," Irene ordered.

"Yes ma'am!" Ben and Amy saluted.

The trio continued on the trail, in hopes of making it to Viridian City.


	13. Grounded

Mid-afternoon, the group found themselves on top of a hill overlooking a city. There wasn't anything extraordinary about it. There were houses, trees, a Pokemon Center, and probably a grocery store somewhere. The only reason for stopping was the prospect of a badge as a sign of strength and progress.

The Pokemon who had been alive with noise were suddenly still, knowing the gravity of the moment. The very first challenge had already appeared.

"Who's the gym leader of this Pokemon Gym anyway?" Ben asked to himself, then was cut off by Irene, who was looking in a book that she had gotten out of her backpack.

"His name is… Lambert. Apparently, he doesn't have much skill. He's just so rich that he wanted to buy the gym and keep it himself because…" she stopped, tilting her head.

"Because?" Amy and Ben said at the same time.

"Oh. Wait, this is the conspiracy theory page. Silly me," Irene shrugged.

"So what's the real story? How legit is this guide anyway?" Ben asked mysteriously.

"Seriously, Ben. This isn't a mystery novel," Amy scolded.

Irene was flipping through the pages of, "The Complete Guide to the Kanto Region: Secrets Revealed!"

"Oh. It actually turns out that he only bought it because it would close down without someone to look after it. Even if he doesn't have skill as a Pokemon trainer, he just loved the Pokemon League so much, that he would seriously lose that many times," Irene clarified.

She looked disapprovingly at a page.

"Of course the pages had to be stuck together with cream cheese," she said.

"A bagel and cream cheese sounds amazing right now," Amy said out of the blue, starting to walk forward.

"Are you ever not hungry?" Ben teased.

"No," Amy replied.

Irene sighed and marched behind them, Dewey and Venom trailing behind her.

A simple trip down the hill, and the trio arrived in Viridian City. It was only then that they realized that walking around with an Arbok, Roserade, Chimchar, Meowth, Totodile, and a newfound Weedle was getting very crowded when they reached civilization.

Amy called Toasty and Lucky into their Pokeballs, promising she would let them out as soon as possible. Ben was finished calling in Cascade, when he saw that Irene hadn't let Dewey or Venom into any sort of Pokeball.

"They don't go anywhere," she said in accusation.

Ben nodded in understanding.

"It's all good," he said.

Amy took a few steps forward, feeling a sudden sense of freedom. People passed by her, some even bumped into her, but she didn't notice. Like every place in the Kanto region, it was pretty. There were nice houses, and a few tall buildings, but not too many to deviate from the scenery.

Other than the Gym that was on the edge of town, the high-tech Pokemon Center was the main attraction, with its modern design.

"Let's go there first. We can reserve a room and leave our stuff. Then we could maybe get some training in, go shopping, and fight the gym leader!" Amy planned out loud.

"Sounds good to me," Ben agreed.

They made their way towards the Pokemon Center. People smiled at them, recognizing their novice status. A few waved. Small children shrank away from Dewey and Venom.

"Why are humans always so scared of Poison types? I don't see anything wrong with them," Irene pouted.

"Do you hear yourself? Poison itself is a very scary word," Amy said, as they reached the sliding doors of the Pokemon Center. Happy music was playing over speakers in the background.

"Everything is just so… pink," Ben gagged.

"I know," Amy agreed.

Irene had already walked up to the front desk professionally.

"I'd like to have my Pokemon healed, but they don't have a Pokeball. Is that okay?" she asked, pointing to the panting Pokemon.

A nurse with a pink braid and blue bow in her hair with a hat resting on top looked at Irene in concern. Her name tag read, "Nurse Abby."

"Are you here with your parents, little girl?" she fretted, eyes searching behind Irene for any sign of an adult.

"She's here with me. And my friend. I'm her older sister," Amy swooped in, putting her arm around Irene in faux protection.

"I see. Well, as long as you're here with a guardian, I suppose it's all right. Here, little Arbok and Roserade, follow me," the nurse said, opening a little door leading to the back room.

"If any of you need help, Beauty over here can help," Abby said, as a Wigglytuff emerged from the back room as she opened the door.

"Wiggly!" the Pokemon exclaimed. Ben put Cascade and Bean in their Pokeballs on the desk, and Beauty the Wigglytuff took them, placing them into a machine. Amy took out her Pokedex while she was waiting.

"**The body is soft and rubbery. When angered, it will suck in air and inflate itself to an enormous size,"** the machine said monotonously. Amy nodded.

"Let's see. Here's Toasty and Lucky," Amy checked off on her fingers. Beauty took them and placed them in a machine. She pressed a button that lit up a sign saying, "Five Minutes."

"We wanted to reserve a room for the night?" Amy posed it in a question.

"Tuff, Wigglytuff!" the Pokemon beamed, pushing a clipboard onto the desk.

"Thank you," Ben said, writing down their information on the piece of paper.

Amy was staring off into space, when she saw a group of people huddled around someone showing off a badge pinned to their coat on the other side of the lobby.

It was an acquaintance from school that Amy recognized. She was carrying around a Chespin, and was bragging loudly in front of the crowd.

"Yeah, yeah. It was nothin', really. Lambert was a chump, a real chump! Seriously, after one attack, his Pokemon were like toothpicks! I think that fake article about him was probably right, ya know? Honestly, it was a snap," she boasted, snapping her fingers for emphasis.

"Tessie," Amy muttered angrily, hands clenched into fists with white knuckles.

Tessie had spiky, light pink hair that covered her muscular shoulders that disappeared into her terrifying physique. She wasn't even that tall, not even overweight, just muscular beyond belief. Next to her, Amy looked like a telephone pole.

"With Avocado over here, Lambert didn't stand a chance," Tessie shouted. The crowd started cheering. Amy sighed. What kind of a name was Avocado anyway? Plus, she was bound to run into her old rival eventually, so might as well either stand up to her, or sneak around like cowards. Amy was choosing the latter.

She tiptoed over to Ben and Irene.

"Tessie alert," Amy whispered.

Ben put a hand over his mouth.

"Who's Tessie?" Irene asked, raising an eyebrow, wondering how such namby-pamby people could be her guardians.

"A terrifying Dragon-type of a person," Ben explained.

"Axew and Dratini aren't so scary," Irene pointed out.

"Not the point! Let's just stay as quiet as possible, and she won't notice us,"Amy said fiercely. She cringed, as a voice played over the loudspeakers.

"Would Amy, Ben, and Irene please come to the front desk? Their Pokemon are ready. Thank you," the voice said coolly.

Irene walked confidently to the front desk, while Ben and Amy held on to each other to keep from falling over in fright.

Irene looked over at the other side of the lobby.

"She left, geniuses," she said, as Dewey and Venom came through the door leading to the back room.

"Hello, nice to see you again," Irene greeted, patting them both on the head.

Ben and Amy sighed, letting go of each other, relieved that they didn't have to face Tessie's wrath… for the moment.

"Okay. With that being said," Amy cleared her throat, brushing herself off.

"We're in room five," she added, putting the Pokeballs on her belt. Ben did the same, and they tried to walk down the hall to their room, as inconspicuous as possible.

"Oh, for Arceus sake," Irene muttered, as she twisted the doorknob to their temporary room. The door opened to reveal two bunk beds, a window, and a video phone with the receiver being held up by a fake Bellsprout.

"We should call the Professor, and Mom and Ash and Misty in a while," Amy reminded herself, putting her belongings on the top bunk on one of the beds.

"I'm going to be on the bottom bunk, if that's okay," Irene called up to her.

"Perfectly okay," Amy called back.

Ben collapsed on the bottom bunk of the other bed, exhausted from the walk to Viridian City. But there was no time to rest! There was a gym badge to be obtained!

"Should we go?" Ben sighed.

"Yep. As your coach, I order you to get up. We'll go pick up some…" Irene checked the clock on the wall, "Dinner, then we'll go get a badge."

"Shouldn't we train?" Amy asked in confusion.

"Trust me, you don't need it," Irene scoffed.

"You heard the coach," Ben urged, "let's go get some dinner!"

The group headed out the doors of the Pokemon center, looking for a place to eat. Things were starting to close down, because the sun was setting. It was appalling how long it took them to walk to Viridian City.

Irene finally spotted a soft-serve ice cream stand, so they settled on that. The sign said, "Jeff's Homemade Ice Cream, with 100% natural Moomoo Milk!"

There were tons of flavors for such a small cart. Everyone ordered chocolate, with rainbow sprinkles. The Pokemon had been fed back at the Pokemon Center.

"So, where you kids headed?" the man, presumably Jeff, said in a gruff voice, starting to fold up the umbrella shading the ice cream stand.

"Gym badges for these two," Irene explained.

"Won't be much of a challenge, if you're lookin' for one," Jeff grumbled sadly, "Lambert's got an amazing heart, but he ain't very strong. Viridian could use a new gym leader, but no one wants to take over since…"

"Since…" Ben hinted, gesturing for an end of the sentence.

"You kids wouldn't know who he is, but this guy, Giovanni,"he choked.

Irene suddenly went stiff, chocolate ice cream dripping down her chin. She quickly grabbed a napkin and dabbed at it.

Amy and Ben were puzzled, but didn't want to question Jeff any further.

"Well, good luck, kids. I travel around a lot, so you'll probably bump into me sometime. Oh, thank you," he coughed, as Ben put a tip in the jar.

"Remember, if you don't get it from Jeff's, it ain't Jeff's!" he recited from a good distance away, as Amy and Ben waved goodbye, giggling at the slogan.

Irene was breathing hard at the ground, ice cream getting all over the bottom of her raincoat sleeve. She perked up when Ben and Amy turned around.

"You said we should go get a badge, Irene? Do you really think we don't need training? A lot of people seem to think Lambert is really weak," Amy insisted.

"Yep, I'm sure of it. Now let's get over there, it's already getting dark. Oh, look at the first star out!" Irene laughed, trying to cover up any nervousness.

Amy joined Irene in the watching of the stars, noticing the first ones starting to poke their heads through the blue wallpaper of the sky. Irene was even pointing out the first sign of a constellation.

Ben hung back, thinking about Giovanni. The name was familiar, just on the verge of a breakthrough. It was a name mentioned by Grandpa Ash and Grandma Misty.

Ben shook it off as they approached the gym, a simple brick building, with a giant silver plaque stating that it was the official Viridian City gym, and the leader was Lambert.

"Our first gym battle," Amy mused, gazing at the giant plaque.

"Yeah, yeah. Cut the sentiment. Let's get a gym badge. I'm a kid. I need my sleep," Irene interrupted, trying to drag Amy inside.

"I'm sort of a kid, too!" Amy objected, "and I was having a moment…"

"She's right, come on," Ben agreed, pushing the door open.

"Here we go," Amy gasped in amazement.

The inside of the gym wasn't anything special. The battle field was simply dirt with a few holes dug by different Ground-type Pokemon, with the Pokeball insignia painted on the middle of the field.

"Hello?" Ben said, voice echoing through the seemingly empty gym.

On the other side of the field, a sad-looking man appeared. He had a very eccentric beard that needed grooming. His tuxedo was stained with what looked like mustard, and his shoes and fedora had seen better days.

"Welcome to the Viridian Gym, I'm Lambert. How would you like to battle today?" Lambert yawned.

"What options are there?" Amy shouted.

"I can _hear_ you. You don't have to shout. You can either both battle at the same time with a double battle, so time can go by faster, or you can waste my time and go one at a time. Pick whichever one you want. You'll defeat me either way," Lambert slurred.

"Err. We don't want to waste your time, so we'll go at the same time," Amy stated, stepping on Ben's foot when he tried to protest.

"Oww… okay then. Let's do this," Ben grimaced.

"Rupert! Can you please come be the referee for this battle," Lambert barked, as a well-dressed butler with a flag ran into the room, panting.

"Will both sides please send out their Pokemon? Sorry, can you give me a minute? Oh, I can't breathe," Rupert breathed, taking out an inhaler.

Amy, was trying to feel the emotional gravity of her first gym battle, but it was being severely rushed by a man who didn't seem like Lambert whatsoever.

"I was trying to remember everything," Amy sighed, sending out Lucky from his Pokeball.

"We'll get you a scrapbook in a little while," Ben assured her, sending out Bean.

"Let's see what you can do, Bean," Ben said to the Pokemon, who was making a distracted buzzing noise. Amy was going to object to Ben's Pokemon choice, but held her tongue when she thought better of it.

"Alright. Go, Digby and Leopold," Lambert half-heartedly called out, releasing a Drilbur and Diglett, who both looked very pessimistic.

Amy took out her Pokedex.

"Rupert, is it okay if I just…?" she asked.

"Yes, of course. It's encouraged in the Professor Oak League to have a better understanding of Pokemon," Rupert approved.

Amy starter with Drilbur:

"**It can dig through the ground at a speed of 30 mph. It could give a car running aboveground a good race."**

Then she checked on Diglett:

"**Lives about one yard underground where it feeds on plant roots. It sometimes appears above ground."**

Ben snatched away Amy's Pokedex angrily.

"We will begin now, Rupert," Ben said through gritted teeth. Irene went to sit down on a bench a few feet away, arms crossed. Venom curled around her feet, and Dewey sat on her shoulder.

"Let's get this started. This battle will have no switch-outs and no time limits. I'll start the countdown. Three… two… one…. Trainers, go!" Rupert shouted.

"Bean, String Shot!"

"Lucky, Scratch!"

Lambert did nothing to counterattack, he just gave a deflated look at the ground while his Pokemon accepted the attacks. After Lucky Scratched Digby a few times, the Pokemon gave him a look that clearly said, "What have I ever done to you?" If there wasn't pity before, a tear rolled down the Drilbur's cheek.

Leopold wasn't any less pathetic. Bean stopped, looking at the Diglett tangled in the String Shot. Without any limbs, he couldn't even begin to struggle out of the web. Bean whimpered, turning around to look at Ben.

"Amy, can we really do this?" Ben asked, trying to push away the mercy, knowing it was a battle. Neither Pokemon had fainted.

Before Amy could say anything, Lambert spoke up from across the room.

"I forfeit. You both get Earth Badges… and another crushing defeat for Lambert's opponents," the gym leader sighed, "Come back, Digby and Leopold."

Rupert looked around in confusion, then frowned and waved a white flag.

"Diglett and Drilbur and unable to battle! Weedle and Meowth win!"

Amy and Ben should've felt victorious, but they felt awful. Pokemon battles weren't supposed to end like that. And it wasn't supposed to be so sad and regretful.

"We can't accept those badges! It doesn't feel right!" Amy exclaimed out of impulse, stepping forward. Lambert shook his head.

"No. Please take them… it's not like I deserve them," Lambert said, holding the two badges out in his hands.

"Why don't you just get a new gym leader to take over? This must make you sad," Ben pointed out, crossing his arms.

"After the last powerful gym leader came to power and tried to take over the world, people were spooked by this place and position. There were some decent Ground-type trainers, but they never stayed long. I took this place just because it was going out of business if someone didn't do it. If someone else were to take over… maybe I'd feel better," Lambert cried to himself. Digby and Leopold shuffled and walked over to him in comfort.

Amy got an idea. Ben could literally see the light bulb above her head. He was dying to see what she had thought of this time.

"What if we found someone to take over the gym for you? We're going to be traveling around a lot, so we could keep an eye out. You'd just have to hang in there. We won't take those badges until you hand them to us with a smile," Amy burst in a sudden spark of inspiration.

Irene from afar was going to interject, because she believed that they wouldn't have time, with all the training and battling. Ben silenced her with a look. He walked over to Irene's bench.

"Don't interrupt Amy's epiphanies. She'll win, there's no way around it," he whispered.

Lambert's eyes were watery and bloodshot, from months of stress of battling that he obviously wasn't cut out for.

"If you really want to do that. So be it. If you really find the best Ground-type trainer for the job, I'll dress like a gentleman again. That'll be the day," he said.

"Deal!" Amy said, grinning, calling Lucky into his Pokeball.

Ben shook his head again as they left the gym. Now they had a new task on their journey. It wasn't going to be simple.


	14. Cafe Confrontation

Irene rolled to her side. It was the middle of the night, starting to be early morning. After the battle, the trio and their Pokemon sleepily hiked back to the Pokemon Center. Ben remembered to call their family members back home. Irene hung in the background, as Ben and Amy explained her traveling with them.

The Professor especially thought it was odd, but told Irene to keep Ben and Amy on task. The whole experience was very awkward. Irene didn't know how to introduce herself, or what to say. There was nothing she could tell them without saying too much. And they were kind people, so lying was out of the question. Irene flipped to her other side, so she was facing Venom's sleeping face. Dewey was by Irene's feet.

"At least you understand me. Thank you for making Poison my favorite type," Irene whispered, stroking her Pokemon. She nuzzled Venom's face, and patted Dewey's, then closed her eyes.

"They can't know what I really am…" Irene trailed off, before drifting off into a dark, dreamless sleep.

_In the morning_

Ben's eyes were barely open. His eyelids felt like they were being weighed down with sacks of flour. He groggily sat up to find Cascade, whom he had let out the night before so he could have some company. He would've let Bean out, but bugs in beds aren't all that appealing. Bedbugs come to mind.

Cascade was holding out a comb for Ben, which he accepted graciously. He combed through his black hair. He was growing it out, so it reached the middle of his neck.

"Oh. How did my glasses get over here?" Ben said to himself, sliding them onto his face. He pulled out a mirror and admired how well he combed his hair without Grandma Misty's help. Cascade clawed at her spikes while she looked in the mirror.

Everyone else was performing their morning rituals, one by one taking turns in the shower. Irene's hair wasn't behaving, and Amy couldn't have cared less about how her hair looked, so she stubbornly left it messy.

Finally, it was time to go. Everyone went together to the front desk to sign out. Nurse Abby waved, as well as her Wigglytuff.

"Come back soon!" she called.

Irene brought up that breakfast might be a good idea, so they found a cafe a few blocks from the Pokemon Center with virtually no people eating there.

The waiter had them sit down, and gave them menus.

"Can I get you anything to drink?" he asked, getting out a pad of paper.

"Just water for me, thank you," Irene ordered.

Ben and Amy said the same.

"I'll get your drinks. The Gothitelle over there will take your order when you're ready," the waiter said, as another group of people walked into the cafe.

Amy was humming, staring at the options on the menu blankly. Ground type Pokemon were really on her mind, though. Ground type Pokemon and their possible trainers. Possible trainers led to possible gym leaders. And a gym leader would lead to getting a badge with a clean conscience.

"Goth, Gothitelle?" the Astral Body Pokemon said sweetly, pointing to the menu. She was using her Psychic power to levitate a small notebook and pencil to copy down the orders.

"I'll have the grilled cheese and tomato soup, please and thank you," Irene said absentmindedly, staring out the window on the opposite side of the cafe.

"Can I just get a side of mashed potatoes with butter and salt? I'm just really not that hungry today," Ben requested nervously. He hated ordering food. It was too personal. The Gothitelle nodded, though.

"I will get the Chansey eggs… scrambled, please. Oh, and two pieces of wheat toast," Amy added, sipping from her water. The Gothitelle nodded, then looked behind her as the cafe owner bellowed orders.

"Hey, Gothy! Service at table five!" he shouted. The Pokemon seemed to salute him, and bounced away happily. Amy took out her Pokedex. Ben rolled his eyes. Did she really have to do that every time?

"**They can predict the future from the placement and movement of the stars. They can see Trainers' life spans."**

"Why do you always do that when you know the Pokemon is obviously a Gothitelle? Do you remember third grade?" Ben scolded.

"Do I even want to know what happened in third grade?" Irene sighed, letting Dewey have a drink of water. Venom was asleep under the table, curled around Irene's feet protectively.

"The worst year of school ever," Amy reminisced, "the second quarter around, and we had to memorize every single Pokemon ever, even the ones that are presumably just legends. Over and over we were forced to chant them out loud. My head hurts just thinking about it."

Ben patted her arm sympathetically. Even though they had never been in the same grade, Ben had gone through the same class.

"Oh, me too. I hated that class," a voice said, forcing Irene to lean forward in a jerky motion, causing her water to spill everywhere. Gothy used her Psychic powers to lift a cloth and clean it up while she was taking someone else's orders.

"Tessie," Ben and Amy said at the same time. She was leaning against the back of her booth seat, head turned to face her rivals, in all her glory, pink hair and all.

"What are you losers doing here?" she asked, smirking. Amy pulled her eyebrows together. Tessie was just trying to get under their skin. She jumped when Irene started to talk.

"Eating. Do you think we were here for a Pokemon battle?" Irene scoffed, thinking Tessie was the stupidest creature she had ever come across.

"Who's this kid?" Tessie asked, looking at Irene as if she were a Bug type Pokemon.

"Our coach," Ben answered matter-of-factly.

"Very funny," Tessie snorted, getting up from her table.

"Oh, no. She's going to beat us up," Ben cowered, pondering joining Venom under the table. He actually started to slide out of his seat. Irene grabbed the back of his hoodie aggressively.

"I don't think you'll be much of a threat in the Professor Oak League," Tessie said, staring down the table menacingly, "so let's keep in that way." She proceeded to stalk off. It wasn't until she was turned around when the group noticed the Chespin on her backpack.

Tessie grabbed a donut off of the front counter, slamming down a dollar, and walked away as aggressively as possible. Ben was shivering in fear.

"Hey, miss! You were short a few cents!" the cafe owner shouted, running out the door, Gothy following him, eyes white with Psychic power. Irene started laughing uncontrollably.

"That's a pretty pathetic person to be scared of!" Irene howled, slapping her knees.

"Tessie is a walking nightmare! Rude, selfish, violent… trust me, she punched me then put my glasses in the toilet," Ben explained, touching his glasses.

"Seriously? I could chew her up like a toothpick. Tessie doesn't look too threatening, not at all intelligent. And did you hear the way she talked? Littered with cliches. Stick with me, kids," Irene scoffed.

"I'm glad you're so confident," Amy sighed. Irene flexed her pretend biceps, as Dewey and Venom were admiring her bravery.

A waiter brought the group their food, and they ate with Irene mumbling under her breath about how pathetic Tessie was. Amy was almost a little angry about how unscared Irene was of Tessie. Amy had a problem with people younger than her doing things better.

Everyone pigged out on their food silently. Amy ate very quickly, finishing first, with Ben close behind her. They glanced at Irene, who was slowly taking bites, chewing and swallowing. It was boring to watch, and Amy was impatient to go.

"Can we speed things up a little?" she said.

"Amy. Chill. We should be glad that one of us will readily help us if we choke from eating too fast," Ben said, motioning for her to calm down. Amy snorted.

The friends quietly sat, watching Irene digest. She didn't regard Ben or Amy's comments.

When she finished, Ben left the money at the front counter, tip included.

"I guess we better head out. First city, and we don't even have a badge," Ben said to himself, starting to walk through the busy street.

"We should be heading through the other half of the Viridian Forest to get to Pewter City, if I'm not mistaken," Irene said, looking at her book.

"That sounds about right. That means we should be going this way," Ben said, pointing down the main street.

"Let's go!" Amy shouted, marching ahead of everyone. Irene, Venom, and Dewey jogged and slithered behind, with Ben speedwalking, deep in thought.

As they were beginning to leave the town, they couldn't have possibly known that they were being followed. Followed by a woman in a black trench coat with an obscure logo, sunglasses, tall red boots, and a face with no expression.

She lifted a walkie-talkie to her lips, then patted her curly silver hair. She was still getting used to the color. The woman pressed a button on the machine.

"I've found them, boss," she whispered, moving behind a building to stay out of view.

"Very good, Madge. I'll be tracking your position. Now get going," a mysterious voice said.

"I received the Pokemon you sent. What nickname should I use to blend in?" Madge said, just now thinking about it. Her boss sighed, obviously thinking that it wasn't important.

"Wings seems to be an appropriate name. You know the rest of the plan. I'm signing off now. People are watching when we least expect it. You're new. Don't fail me, Madge," the voice grumbled in a low, sophisticated voice.

"I won't let you down. Signing off," Madge replied, saluting to the walkie talkie, even though he couldn't see her.

Madge pulled the jacket off of her so she could hide the logo on her shirt. Rookie mistake. People would notice and get suspicious.

"Let's see what you can do, Wings," Madge whispered, throwing the Pokeball a few feet in front of her. A Pidgeot popped out, sitting on the ground. Madge would've liked a more interesting Pokemon, but a Kanto Pokemon fit in well with the Kanto region. Plus, they needed eyes in the sky, and a Pidgeot was fast, one of the fastest flyers around.

Madge clipped a collar around Wings's neck, equipped with a small camera to take pictures and videos that Madge could track with her portable Xtransceiver.

"You've gone through rigorous training for this moment. You have the the scent of the girl, correct? You can follow her, right?" Madge asked. Wings nodded.

"Blend into the forest, follow her, and I'll follow you. I'll give the signal when it's time. We're partners now, so you need to trust me," Madge lectured. Out of habit, she stroked the Pidgeot's beak.

The partners made eye contact, and with a gesture, Wings set off on his mission, following a certain trio that was now heading into the mysterious Viridian Forest.


	15. Missions and Training

"It's official. I'm really getting sick of forests," Amy announced, clapping her hands together, making everyone have a miniature heart attack. There had been a comfortable silence between all of them.

"Arceus, Amy. Don't do that," Ben choked, adjusting his glasses.

"I thought we were having an unspoken bonding moment," Irene sighed. She looked at the sky and suddenly stopped on the road twisting through the trees.

"Something wrong, Irene?" Ben asked.

"No, Ben. I just think this is a great place to start you and Amy's training. You haven't done anything outside of catching easy Pokemon and defeating a weak gym leader and a girl who was holding back," Irene explained, gesturing to herself at the end.

"I guess so," Ben considered, reaching for a Pokeball in his pocket.

"Cascade. Come on out, girl," he said. The Totodile was happy (but not too happy) to see Ben and be out of her confined space. Ben also let out Bean, who casually crawled on his arm.

Amy let out Toasty and Lucky, who immediately went off to play in the woods.

"Hang on!" Amy called to them. They slowly obeyed, slinking reluctantly to Amy's legs.

"We're about to train, sillies," Amy teased.

Irene turned while Dewey was helping tie her hair up. She waited patiently and thanked the Roserade profusely.

"I'm going to help train Ben first. But stay here," Irene said, as Amy started to walk away. "I want you to watch very closely because you will be doing something similar."

Amy perched herself with her Pokemon on a convenient boulder. Irene was mouthing invisible words to herself. She started counting things on her fingers while looking to the clouds thoughtfully.

"Alright, Ben. Send Bean up here," she requested, outstretching an arm.

"I just got that," she laughed to herself. "Bean is only 'Ben' with one extra letter. Very clever." Irene stroked Bean, who seemed to enjoy the attention.

"I… didn't think of it that way. I just thought it was a cute name honestly," Ben said, scratching the back of his head nervously.

"Well maybe you're a secret genius or something," Irene theorized. She flipped through the pages of her book fervently.

"A Weedle will someday evolve into a Kakuna then a Beedrill. Those can be a nice asset to your team, especially if you decide to use the Mega Evolution later on," Irene spouted out, paging through her giant book.

"Are you serious? Mega Stones are really, really expensive, along with the Key Stones. It would take a thousand trainer battles to afford that sort of thing," Amy chimed in. Irene shot her a glare, and Amy went back to playing with her thumbs. Toasty and Lucky were playing "Rock, Paper, Scissors."

"The first thing that we'll work on is speed. Venom is going to try to hit the ground where Bean is, and Bean has to either scurry or hop out of the way of Venom's tail. If it shows that Bean is being severely hurt in any way, we will take a break. Between us, we have enough potions," Irene said, crossing her arms intensely.

"Can you do that, Bean?" Ben asked. The Weedle crawled off of his arm quietly and looked up at Venom's face.

"Weedle, weedle," he said quietly.

"Sssarbok," Venom replied. They were agreeing that they would still be pals after the training, with no hard feelings at the end.

"Are you ready, Bean?" Irene hollered.

"Wee, Weedle," he hollered back.

"Three, two, one… go, Venom!" Irene shouted. Venom immediately starting whipping his tail on the ground, missing Bean by a whisker. The Pokemon was struggling to move out of the way, but was able to just miss Venom's tail.

After a few minutes, Irene gave a new command. Venom was told by Irene to continue the attacks, and asked Ben to call attacks in an attempt to hit Venom.

"Bean isn't allowed to directly move away from Venom's attacks. You can order Bean to do anything. Do you need a break?" Irene interrupted herself, looking at the hopping Weedle. The Pokemon stubbornly shook his head.

"Alright. Go!" Irene commanded.

"Let's try a String Shot! Just go for Venom's head!" Ben ordered, taking a step forward to watch Bean's actions. Bean was running out of breath, but spat out a spool of string from its mouth, attempting to hit Venom's head. The Pokemon moved his head, but did it in a weird motion while still trying to keep his tail moving.

"You almost got him that time, Bean!" Ben praised, giving the air a fist bump. Amy squinted. Venom was just warming up. It wasn't going to be an easy battle the rest of the way.

"Keep doing littler String Shots in all directions. You just have to hit Venom with one of them!" Ben said, sounding very optimistic. Bean obliged, with Venom moving his head, almost looking like he was trying to hypnotize Bean.

"We've almost got him. We just need to catch Venom off guard," Ben muttered. Bean was getting closer and closer.

"We just need to lower Venom's Speed. Then you can take a break, Bean," Ben assured himself. "Then you can take a break."

_Meanwhile_

The mysterious Pidgeot named Wings was preening his feathers. He wasn't distracted from his work, there was just a pebble wedged in between two feathers and it was very uncomfortable. Finally, he found the pesky thing in his beak, and he tossed it out of the tree.

"Wings. Can you get closer to the children? We want to see what skill we're dealing with here. Yes, just hop to that tree over there," Madge directed through the camera around the Pidgeot's neck.

"No, birdbrain! That tree, to your left! Honestly, all this special training for a Pokemon that can't tell right from left? Okay, there you go. Just sit on that branch and sit still, you hear?" Madge added, sounding very exasperated.

"Pidgeot," Wings crowed in a smug manner. He was simply messing with Madge, not liking her very much. She always fed him too much, knowing that it didn't make his feathers look nice. A chubby Pokemon wasn't very attractive, either.

Since Wings didn't want to get in trouble with his intimidating boss, he sat still in a branch overlooking a clearing. An Arbok was trying to hit a Weedle, who was trying to attack with a String Shot to lower the Arbok's Speed.

Wings noticed that the Weedle was getting tired and was probably going to give up soon. The temptation to swoop down and gobble the Weedle up was too great.

"The older ones are new to the Pokemon game," Madge observed. "The one we're after seems to be teaching them battle techniques. Oh! It seems the Weedle finally managed to String Shot Arbok! Then a Tackle? Amazing timing, I must say."

Wings tipped his head to the side as the Weedle started to glow white, a sensation he knew all too well, since he had evolved twice before. The white blob morphed into a Kakuna, another Pokemon that Wings would've liked to devour.

"Bug Pokemon seem to evolve so fast," Madge said in awe. She snapped herself out of it.

"I need you to stay there until nightfall or whenever they decide to fall asleep. I'll climb up there when the time's right, and give you the item," Madge plotted. Wings cawed in response.

"If they move, follow them very closely. If you're seen, it doesn't really matter," Madge reassured the Bird Pokemon. "Pidgeot seem to live in forests anyway."

Wings listened as a crackling noise brought the conversation to a halt. Madge had disconnected her walkie-talkie. Honestly, Wings didn't know why she used that obsolete old thing. She _had_ an Xtransceiver.

There was a job to be done. Wings remained silent as he watched the children jumping around in celebration of their new Kakuna. It sure looked delicious.

_Meanwhile_

"Already? How is this possible?" Ben screamed in blissful disbelief, going over to embrace Bean's new appearance.

"Bug Pokemon evolve very fast," Irene explained. "It's just how they work. According to my memory, they go cling to a tree and wait for the day when they can fully evolve. They're kind of useless in this form."

"You evolved, you evolved!" Ben cried out in happiness. He spun around and gave Amy a huge hug, which she hesitantly returned, because he was crushing her.

"Can't breathe," she sputtered. Toasty knocked on Ben's back and he pulled away.

"I'm just so happy," Ben cheered, giving Irene a hug, too. She pushed him away. He watched Bean make himself comfortable on a nearby tree, using String Shot to secure himself.

"How long is he going to stay there?" Amy inquired, the thought occurring to her.

"Long enough for us to do more training. Cascade, we'll get to you, but Toasty is very out of shape. We're working on your Speed, too. Venom, you can take a break," Irene said, patting his head. "You did amazing. Bean evolved because of you. I'm very proud."

"Sssarbok, Arbok," he answered, smiling with a pink tongue hanging out.

"Dewey, you're up," Irene said. Dewey eyed her suspiciously.

"You'll just be racing Toasty. On second thought, Cascade and Lucky, you join, too," Irene said, changing her mind. Irene drew a line in the dirt and had them stand in a line.

"Amy, you can shout directions to your Pokemon, and I'll shout directions to mine. Oh, and Ben can pay attention to Cascade," Irene ordered. She coughed, result of a lingering cold.

"Okay. When I say go…"

_Meanwhile_

Wings was getting a cramp in his legs from watching the Pokemon training. He popped them, then ruffled his wings for good measure. A static noise came to his attention, and Madge began pestering Wings again.

"Move up a little, will you? I can barely see over that tree branch over there," Madge complained, snorting a little. Wings rolled his eyes. He got very prestigious training from professionals who treated him with the utmost respect, and he got stuck with Madge? Babbling, complaining Madge?

Wings didn't know if he could take it much longer.

He watched as the Totodile, Meowth, Roserade, and Chimchar raced between two spread apart trees. The younger girl was keeping track of wins and losses, shouting that there would be a prize at the end.

Wings puzzled over why the Weedle got special training, but dismissed it as another dumb human practice. He wasn't allowed to comment, he was just there to watch.

The Pokemon raced for a few hours, stopping every once in a while for water breaks. Wings realized how thirsty he was for a moment, then glared enviously at the older girl's water bottle.

He got angrier when they had food and went to sleep. He had to watch them for longer when he was starving, thirsty, and exhausted. That didn't matter. The children were asleep now. Wings tapped the button on his collar with his beak.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm almost there," Madge mocked. Sure enough, her head popped through the leaves of a tree, right next to Wings's place of vigil.

"Okay, Wings. The professors were able to perfect the key chain," Madge whispered. She held up a key chain with a fake Master Ball on the end of it. How could anybody exist? It was awesome, and how were you going to get a hold of a real Master Ball, anyway?

"This will track their position," Madge said slowly. "We need you to drop it next to the boy's backpack. Just near it, because he seems intelligent enough to discover it himself."

Wings didn't need any further instruction. He grabbed the key chain in his talons from Madge's palm. He spread his feathers, which creaked from lack of movement. He hopped off the branch, diving to the campsite. As he neared the boy's backpack, he dropped the key chain, causing a soft noise as it hit the grass.

Wings continued to glide, turning back around to land on the tree he had been watching from. Even though they didn't like each other, Madge extended a fist. Wings smiled a little, curling his talons into a sort of fist. They did the obvious gesture.

"Let's get something to eat," Madge exclaimed, then covered her mouth. They couldn't mess up now.

Their first mission was complete.

_Meanwhile_

Irene's eyes opened. A huge Pidgeot, larger than normal, had flown by their camp majestically. It was a sight to see. Irene couldn't contain her childish whimsy, making a quiet "whoosh" noise as the Pidgeot flew by.

Irene felt pleased with herself as she fell asleep leaning against Venom.

Her first training session was complete.


End file.
